Don't Get Me Wrong
by vintageambition
Summary: Lucas Friar is the new kid in school. Something about Maya Hart pulls him in, but will his asshole personality repel her? Maybe he has a plan to get her... Lucaya. Asshole!Friar AU.
1. New Guy

**A/N: New Story! I'm so excited for you guys to read this! One of my favorites that I've written. Please enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 1: "New Guy"

Maya stood at her locker, rummaging through random discarded papers until she found the notes she needed for her first class. Her blonde hair hung loose over her shoulders and swung back and forth as she bounced around to see into her dark locker.

"Peaches!" Riley called over her shoulder. Maya looked behind her to see her best friend walk up to her. She carried two muffins in her hand: one banana nut muffin for herself and one blueberry one for Maya. Blueberry was her favorite and Riley knew it. Twice a week in the mornings Riley would go with her dad to the café down the street and pick up muffins. She always got an extra one for Maya.

"Hi honey. Muffin time?" Maya asked excitedly, reaching her hands out for the muffin. Riley placed the brown paper wrapped bakery item in Maya's tiny hands before taking a bite of her own. "Mmmm. I never get tired of these!"

"I know right! Best muffins in the city!" Riley answered, wiping several muffin crumbs from her mouth. "Just don't tell my mom I said that."

Both girls got a laugh in before Maya turned away to continue her search for her biology notes. Riley looked on with an amused gaze at how disorganized her best friend could be sometimes. It was funny the way all her art supplies and works were always so neat and orderly. Her paint brushes were always cleaned and kept in their respective tins. Her artworks were laid out nice either in the school art room in her unfinished work cubby or at home in their spot under the window. Her sketchbooks were placed on a shelf in her room with all her fancy sketching pencils, the ones Riley gave to her for Christmas the year before, on the same shelf right next to the stack.

But her school things; those were always a little bit of a mess. Riley had tried many times to help Maya develop some kind of organizational system for her school items like she had for her art supplies, but they always only lasted about a week before Maya would start tossing papers and books anywhere again.

"What are you looking for this time?" Riley asked, an amused smirk on her face.

"My biology notes! I know I threw them in here!" Maya answered. She took a moment to ignore her issue to take a bite of her muffin. But she quickly went back to looking through the pile of loose papers.

"Well maybe if you didn't just 'throw' papers in your locker, you would be able to find things. Like notes," Riley smirked.

"Or maybe I left them in my notebook?" Maya remarked to herself, ignoring Riley's comment. "Did I even bring a notebook to class last week?" she asked. Her question was met with silence. "Riley?"

The blonde didn't bother turning her eyesight to Riley. But that only meant she didn't notice Riley was too busy to answer her question; too busy staring at the thing just about every other girl in the hallway was staring at.

Two boys had just walked in the front door of the school. Riley could tell immediately that they were both new. Riley knew just about every face in school, she prided herself on it. But never in her life had she laid eyes on either of these boys. One of them was handsome, a light skinned boy with a charming smile on his face. But the other boy, the other boy was what the girls had their eyes on. He was taller than the first boy, with short blonde hair and piercing green eyes. A blue t-shirt hugged his arms perfectly and shaped every curve. Riley couldn't find a feature on him that she didn't find absolutely perfect. Her wonder-struck eyes followed him closely as he walked down the hallway.

"Riley?" Maya asked, finally looking at her. Riley's head snapped around to see Maya snapping her fingers in front of her face to try and get her attention. "What are you staring at?"

"Did you see him?" Riley asked. Her gaze turned back down the hall in the direction that blonde boy had disappeared to.

"See who?" Maya wondered, still deep in her search for the right notes.

"I don't know," Riley answered, "but I'm going to find out."

"Ha! Found them!" Maya exclaimed just as the morning bell rang. She slide her notes into her bag and grabbed a couple pens from her locker before continuing down the hall to her first class. Riley walked with Maya, since their classes were right next to each other, and did her best to describe the features of the boy she had just seen. Maya was only half listening. She heard so many times about boys Riley thought were cute that she was a pro at this point at only half listening, but seeming like she was hanging on Riley's every word.

Little did Maya know, she would have to listen to this kind of thing for a while, even after she left Riley at the doorway to her classroom. All through the class the two girls sitting behind Maya were whispering to each other about some new guy they saw before class. Neither one knew his name, but the features they used to describe him sounded an awful lot like the way Riley had described him. It didn't begin to really surprise Maya until she heard whispers about this boy in both her second class and her third class. She finally learned that his name was Lucas but no one really seemed to be whispering about anything real about him. The only things she really seemed to be hearing was 'how cute he was' and 'how perfect his arms were.' If Maya had to hear another comment about his cheekbones, she was pretty sure she would actually puke.

Lunch time finally came around. Maya sat at her usual table with Farkle and Riley. The two were already seated when Maya sauntered over with her tray of food. She arrived in the middle of a conversation between her friends.

"Farkle you have to tell me about him!" Riley begged.

"Why do you need to know Riley?" Farkle complained.

"Who are you talking about?" Maya asked. Riley's forehead was already wrinkled with concern that she wouldn't get the information she was begging Farkle for.

"Lucas!"

"Oh my god what is it with this new guy? Why is everyone talking about him?" Maya had yet to even see this guy. She was expecting him to have angel wings at the very least with the way everyone was talking about him.

"Because he's perfect Maya!" Riley exclaimed before letting her eyes fall back onto Farkle. "Will you please tell me what you know?"

Farkle smirked, knowing he couldn't escape the question. Riley was relentless with this kind of thing. "Fine. But there's not much to tell. He just moved here from Texas. He's an athlete; pretty much guaranteed a spot on the baseball team."

"How?"

"He was apparently some star player on the baseball team back at his old school," Farkle answered, ignoring the starry look in Riley's eyes.

Maya wasn't as impressed. "Great. He's probably got the cocky attitude to match," she commented, sticking her fork into her spaghetti. Farkle laughed at the comment, which he agreed with. Riley, on the other hand, didn't seem to pay much mind to the insinuation about Lucas's attitude. Maya was much too ready to leave the subject when Riley's fist repeatedly hit her arm. "Ow Riley stop! What?"

Riley didn't answer. All she did was point. Both Maya and Farkle let their eyes move to the place their brunette friend was pointing. Farkle did nothing but shake his head and let his attention fall back to his food. Maya, however, finally got to lay eyes on what everybody was talking about. Walking in through the cafeteria door was new boy Lucas. Maya had to admit, he was more attractive than most guys she had ever seen. His green eyes practically lit the room up on their own and she would give almost anything to even lay a hand on his biceps. Her hovering eyes made their way to the grin on his face. Although his smile was pretty perfect, Maya noticed quickly that he had caught on to how much the girls in the room were looking at him. Even girls who were currently sitting with their own boyfriends had their eyes glued to Lucas as he walked across the room. And just as Maya had guessed before, the grin on his face was riddled with cocky arrogance. He knew how attractive he was. Just like that, Maya's attraction to him shrank smaller and smaller. Riley apparently didn't feel the same. When Maya turned to see Riley, the brunette's eyes were still on Lucas, following his every move. She looked as though he was the only boy she had ever laid eyes on and she was utterly entranced. Maya had never seen her like that before. It was slightly concerning.

"I hope he hasn't met anybody yet. Like girl wise," Riley said, her eyes not for a second lifting from the blonde boy.

"He was chatting it up pretty heavy with a couple girls in class this morning," Farkle replied. This was the moment Riley chose to take her eyes off of Lucas. They changed from the wondrous state they were just a moment ago and filled with worry. Farkle was about to speak comforting words to Riley when Maya spoke instead, looking back up at Lucas.

"Was it one of those girls?" Maya asked as she smirked. She was looking at Lucas as he sat down in between two pretty girls. His smile was undeniably charming and he was undeniably handsy. Neither of the girls seemed to mind his wandering hands though, their giggles proved it.

Farkle shook his head in response to Maya's question. "Nope. It wasn't either of those girls," he laughed.

"Well I guess we know what he likes to do in his spare time," Maya smirked. Riley looked up confused at why her friends were giggling.

"What do you mean?" she asked, curious.

"Nothing Riles," Maya answered. Riley's naivety always amused Maya. And Farkle. They chose to keep her naïve to certain things, for her best interest. Maya seriously thought about explaining what she meant to Riley in this instance. Maybe that would keep Riley from fantasizing about this obvious womanizer. But Maya knew Riley would be too nervous to actually approach Lucas and she would eventually just get over him and move on. So she kept her mouth shut and instead shoved a fork full of spaghetti in her mouth.

Luckily she and Farkle seemed to be on the same page and he changed the subject. Even though her eyes stayed on Lucas pretty much the whole time, Riley didn't bring him up again for the rest of lunch. Every girl in the room seemed to want to meet Lucas. Every girl wanted to talk to him, probably more. Every girl except Maya. She couldn't stand the conceited grin that seemed to be a permanent part of his face.

Unfortunately, she had to go through the rest of the day hearing little whispers about him. She would bet he knew he was the talk of the school right now, and she would bet he was loving it. She was hearing about him way too much. And she was most definitely hearing the word 'perfect' too much when it came to how people were describing him.

 **A/N: So what do you think so far!? This is my take on an asshole!Friar story so Lucas will be pretty OOC for a while lol but it'll be Lucaya in the end;) But you'll have to keep reading to find out how they get together**

 **Please review guys! Nothing makes me want to update more than reading a lot of lovely reviews! Love you guys**


	2. Guys From Texas

**A/N: GOD I'm so sorry I haven't posted in forever! But I was really busy for the past couple weeks with work and then I was on vacation in Palm Springs this weekend and just haven't had time to post or write:( But I'm taking a second to update now because you guys have expressed so much excitement about this story already in the reviews! Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMS, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 2: "Guys From Texas"

Just a week after arriving at Abigail Adams High School, Lucas was still being talked about. It was enough to make Maya truly want to rip her hair out of her head. What made her want to rip her hair out even more? The fact that she had had a few less than spectacular run-ins with the popular boy himself. Just as Maya had imagined, he had a particularly annoying sense of entitlement when it came to girls. He knew about the sparkle in his eyes and the way he spoke showed how much confidence he had. It wasn't the confidence that was bad, confidence was good. Maya wishes she had more confidence herself. But the kind of confidence Lucas had was well past the line of straight arrogance.

The fact that he assumed any girl he pointed a finger at was his, made Maya want to barf. The first time Maya had the misfortune of talking to Lucas Friar was just a couple days after his arrival. Of course, it wasn't her that initiated the conversation.

 _She was just standing by her locker, reading over a few last minute notes before her next class. She didn't even notice when a tall figure leaned up against the locker next to her. Her eyes stayed glued on the page in front of her until a sound made its way to her ears._

 _"_ _That's a mess," a male voice said. Maya looked up to see none other than Lucas standing next to her. Her eyebrow arched in confusion both at why he was talking to her and what the 'mess' was he was referring to._

 _"_ _Excuse me?" she asked._

 _"_ _Your locker," he said, raising his finger to point at the actual mess of crumpled papers and tossed books inside the smaller blonde's locker. "It's a mess." The confident Lucas never lost the smirk that rested on his face as Maya's head shifted back and forth between him and her locker. Maya didn't understand what was happening._

 _She did know she was utterly unaffected by his charming smile. Maybe if he didn't have a thick cloud of egotistical air surrounding him, she would be affected. Actually, no, scratch that, she knows she would be affected. Not even Maya could deny his handsome features were a bit overwhelming. But she seemed to be the only girl who could see that his attitude made him far less attractive. Maya shut her notebook and slid it into her bag before shutting her locker door._

 _"_ _Doesn't seem to be any of your business," she smirked before walking right past the arrogant boy. At first she assumed he would walk the opposite way and go try to charm some other girl, who would no doubt be much easier to charm than Maya. But after only a few seconds, she heard footsteps following behind her._

 _"_ _What's your name?" Lucas asked as he caught up with her side._

 _"_ _Maya." Maya didn't see any harm in telling him her name. It wouldn't change the fact that she didn't want much from him, especially not what he wanted her to want._

 _"_ _Figures," he replied. Maya's brow once again arched in confusion. Was this guy being vague on purpose? Was that his thing? Maybe it was part of the mystery that made girls like him or something. But it was just making Maya tired._

 _"_ _Figures what?"_

 _"_ _Pretty girl, pretty name," he smirked. Maya stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face him. She couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the act that he was putting on right now._

 _"_ _Oh are you serious right now?" she laughed._

 _Lucas wasn't fazed by her laughter. Maya was actually starting to consider that the smirk was actually permanently attached to his face. It was a bit alarming. "What are you talking about?"_

 _"_ _Pretty girl, pretty name? That's really the line you're going with?" she laughed. She couldn't decide if this guy was being serious or not. She felt like she was in some bad rom-com parody that was heavy on the comedy part._

 _"_ _Well I usually don't need a line," he answered, as if a brand new stream of arrogance escaped from the aura around him._

 _"_ _I'm sure you don't," Maya was quick to answer back. "Look Lucas-"_

 _"_ _You do know my name?" he cut her off._

 _"_ _Everyone knows your name. Please don't act like you don't know that," Maya said with her own knowing smirk. Lucas laughed, knowing she was right. "Look," Maya continued with her sentence from before she was interrupted, "I am not one the girls who is magically going to jump into bed with you because you have a cute face and you say nice things. But I know there are about 2000 other girls in this school who will. So why don't you go find one of them?"_

 _"_ _You think I have a cute face?" Lucas remarked._

 _Maya's unbelieving wide-eyed gaze couldn't be concealed. "That would be the only thing you heard from that."_

 _"_ _That was not the only thing I heard," he stated. Maya's face twisted thinking he might actually get it into his head that him and Maya weren't going to happen. "I also caught something about jumping into bed with me."_

 _Maya's face fell and her lips began to form a small defeated smile. "Goodbye Lucas." She turned on her heels and made her way down the hall. This time she didn't hear footsteps following her. She just heard a voice carry down in her direction._

 _"_ _I'll see you around Maya!" Lucas shouted to her._

 _"_ _Not if I can help it," she whispered to herself as she turned the corner, out of Lucas's sight._

She wishes she could say that was the only run in she had with Lucas Friar. But he meant it when he said he would see her around. At least a couple times a day over the next week, Maya and Lucas would run into each other in the halls and he would try to talk to her. Mostly, she gave him the same exhausted smile and ignored all of his crude words about her short dresses and "womanly features." Sometimes, when she just couldn't deal with him, she would turn away without even a word. But he never got the message. Or maybe he did get the message and he just liked torturing her. Based on everything Maya knew about Lucas, which she'll admit wasn't much and she would like to keep it that way, she would bet that he was just taking pleasure in torturing her.

Riley was trying to hide her jealously when Maya first told her that Lucas came up to her and tried flirting. Maya assured her it was a one-time thing and that it wouldn't even happen again. It was their "first and only conversation ever" is what Maya told her best friend. The blonde truly believed that; until Lucas started coming up to her more often. Then Riley's jealously hit an all-time high.

The girls sat on the little couch in the front of Topanga's after school. Maya wanted to focus solely on the rendering of the full moon and the multitude of stars in last night's sky that she was working on in her sketchbook. But Riley had another topic picked out.

"Maya he's interested in you!" she exclaimed for probably the tenth time since they got to the bakery an hour ago.

"Riley I think what he's interested in is under my dress," Maya smirked. She didn't understand either Riley's obsession with Lucas or Lucas's apparent obsession with her. Neither were that exciting.

"Maya you don't know that!" Riley defended the boy she hadn't said one word to. Maya's eyes finally lifted from her sketchbook and stared at her friend.

"Riley! You know he's already slept with like 3 girls in our grade right? And he's only been here for like a week," Maya declared. She didn't see the point in guarding Riley. It was only a matter of time before Lucas made his way down the line of girls until he got to Riley. And she was too naïve to not fall for his dumb act. Honestly, Maya was surprised Riley hadn't heard all the things about Lucas. He already had quite the reputation. But then again, tons of girls have already heard about Lucas's 'fuck them and leave them' habit, but they were still throwing themselves at him.

"Maybe he just needs the right girl to change him?" Riley was, again, quick to defend.

"That is such a problematic statement that I actually don't even want to touch it," Maya laughed. This unrealistic idea of love Riley had, the one she had always had, was something Maya found cute. It was closer to being obtainable for Riley than it was for Maya, at least that's what Maya thought, so maybe it wasn't that bad of an idea for her to have. But if she tried to direct it towards Lucas, she was going to get hurt.

Riley laughed, but kept on with the subject. "But honestly Peaches how can you not think he's dreamy?" she asked with stars in her eyes as she gazed off at nothing.

"I didn't say I didn't think he was attractive!" Maya stated, using more suitable words than Riley's 'dreamy.'

"So you agree he's amazingly gorgeous?" Riley grinned.

"I said he was attractive," Maya grinned back. Even though Lucas wasn't here, she refused to use the words 'gorgeous' or 'dreamy.' They would just feed his already inflated ego. "But Riles he's such an asshole! I don't understand how you can be so into him just because he's got nice eyes."

Riley rolled her eyes at the statement she deemed us unfit to describe Lucas. "Maya he's got nice everything."

"Yeah everything except a nice personality," Maya said, taking her turn to roll her eyes.

"I'm sure you just have to get to know him!"

"Ok well call me crazy but I prefer guys who are just nice, without having to 'get to know them,'" Maya said, immediately bringing her attention back to her sketchbook. Riley opened her mouth but not much more than a sound came out when Maya's glare was brought up to the brunette's eyes. She took the hint and brought her own attention to her math book and the homework problems in front of her.

The following day, Maya had managed to avoid Lucas by the time she got to her art class. She only had two more classes left in the day and nothing could help her get through it like art class. Walking into the room, her blue eyes noticed an unfamiliar sight as she walked the familiar path to her seat. A boy, a new boy, sat in her stool by the window on the side of the room. Once she walked closer, she recognized the boy to be a friend of Lucas's. He was the other new Texan at the school. People knew of him more than they knew him. But Maya was in no mood to deal with him if he was anything like Lucas.

Her boots made click-clack sounds on the tile floor until she was standing directly in front of the boy. His attention was on his phone, so Maya cleared her throat softly. It was enough to get his head to shoot up and look at her.

"You're kind of in my seat," she said. "But that one's free." She pointed to the empty stool next to hers. Melanie Torres used to sit there but then she transferred to a different period art class, so that stool was vacant. Though Maya wasn't sure she should have told him it was free until she had a chance to feel out his personality. She did not want a Lucas clone sitting next to her in her favorite class.

"Oh sorry. I didn't know there was assigned seating, sweet thing," he said. Although the nickname was already annoying Maya to no end, she was happy to see him stand up from the stool and gather his bag up.

"Well there is. And please don't call me that," she asked, taking her rightful seat on her stool. The new boy smirked, but it didn't have the same arrogance Lucas's had, so that was comforting. "What is it about Texas guys? Do all of you think you're God's freaking gift?"

At first, she felt a little bad for going off on him, but Texas was becoming less and less intriguing to her with each Texan she met. But when the boy let out a genuine laugh, she knew he didn't take it personally. "I wouldn't say God's gift…but I like to go more with handsome devil."

Now if it was Lucas who said that, Maya would be cringing right about now. But this guy was different. He had a genuine air about him and the smile on his face told Maya he was kidding around with her. She let out a laugh and the boy returned it.

"I'm Zay," he introduced himself.

"Maya."

It was then the teacher came in and started class. He mentioned Zay and that he would be joining their class officially since his schedule was finally finished. The project for the day was a partner painting so Maya offered to work with Zay since he didn't know anyone in the class. They fell into conversation easily, seeing they actually had some things in common. Zay seemed a lot more down to earth than Lucas did. It was surprising for Maya to learn the two boys had been best friends for almost as long as she and Riley had been best friends. But she and Riley were pretty different, so maybe it wasn't too weird. But Zay was such a nice guy and Lucas… well Lucas was a pig if Maya was putting it plainly.

Maya had almost forgotten all about Lucas and his perverted comments when the bell rang, signaling the last period was about to start. Maya and Zay were making their way out the door when a certain blonde stepped in front of them.

"Well, well how do you two know each other?" he said smugly.

"She's in my art class. This is Maya-"

"I know who she is," Lucas interrupted.

"You two know each other?" a curious Zay asked.

Maya scoffed at the question. "Unfortunately." Suddenly, Zay's lips formed a smile that went from ear from ear.

"Oh! This is the blonde beauty?" Zay smirked. Maya's head whipped around to see the smirk Zay held on his face. Her eyes turned back, expecting to see Lucas's smile falter, but he looked just as disgustingly confident as he always did.

"Are you making up nicknames for me behind my back Cowboy?" she asked. He was about to say something, probably words that would be dripping in his cocky attitude, but he didn't get the chance. Riley came bouncing up to them and looked at Maya, not yet noticing Lucas was standing there.

"Maya we have to get to class!" Just as she was about to pull Maya's arm towards their next class down the hall, she caught sight of Lucas. Maya noticed Lucas flash his trademark smile in Riley's direction, which seemed to render the girl speechless.

"Riley?" Maya tried to bring her back to earth.

Riley ignored her call entirely and kept her eyes on Lucas. "Hi," she managed to get out.

"Hey beautiful," was all he said before walking past the group of them, his green eyes staying Riley.

Maya wasn't having it. She stared down in Lucas's direction and without looking at either of them, spoke to Zay and Riley. "Um Zay this is Riley. Riley this is Zay. Talk to each other for a second." She made her way as fast as she could walk in Lucas's path. "Friar!" she called after him. He turned to face her.

"Yes Maya?"

"What was that?" she said, stopping in front of him.

"What was what?"

"That 'hey beautiful' you just gave to Riley. What was that?"

"Oh what are you jealous that I'm looking at her ass now instead of yours?" he smirked. Maya was about to smack the damn smirk off his smug face if he did anything to Riley.

"You stay away from her. Alright? She is important and she is not some girl that you can just have sex with and then screw over," she ranted. She wasn't planning on playing his game, not now, not about Riley. Her face was straight and serious, leaving no trace of nonchalance. Lucas's face, however, did not match the tone.

"Oh come on. But she's got such a nice ass-"

"Watch it Cowboy!" she said, her finger pointing firmly at his face. "You stay away from Riley got it?"

She didn't give him time to answer. Instead she turned back down the hall towards her best friend. She knew Riley wouldn't be very happy if she knew what Maya just did. But Riley wasn't seeing straight. She couldn't see that Lucas was bad news and he wasn't someone that she could 'fix' like it was romantic story. She got back to the two friends she left standing in front of the art room and grabbed Riley's hand. After a goodbye to Zay, she started gliding down the hall. Riley went on and on about the so-called moment she and Lucas just had. But Maya couldn't hear it. Lucas was bad news, that's all she knew.

 **A/N: Did you like chapter 2? Zay's not a huge part of this story but he's definitely present in some parts. He's my favorite s I put him in pretty much every story lol**

 **I hope you guys are still liking it! I'm really hoping I find time to write soon. I just started a new multi chapter but I'm still writing the first chapter. The outline is done which is good because that usually takes me the longest but if you guys have ever seen the movie "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" it's an AU on that with the core5. So I'm pretty excited!**

 **Also if you guys follow my one-shot fic, I haven't uploaded that in even longer but I'm hoping to get another oneshot up by the end of this week so be on the look out! Thank you so much for reading you guys! It means so much that people enjoy my writing:)**


	3. I'd Like It If You'd Drop Dead

**A/N: Next chapter! I hope you guys are still into this story lol**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 3: "I'd Like It If You'd Drop Dead"

As much as Maya considered Lucas insufferable, she found herself hanging out with his own best friend much more over the course of the couple weeks after meeting him. Zay had a genuine nature about him that Maya thought was refreshing. You couldn't find that much nowadays, especially in New York. She introduced him to Riley and Farkle and even went out with him on the weekend to show him some 'top secret' spots in the city. She claimed you only really knew about them if you've lived there your whole life. They became really fast friends.

Unfortunately for Maya, that also meant having to deal with Lucas a bit more. Zay didn't talk about him much, probably because he saw the way Maya's cringed whenever his name was brought up. Sometimes Maya thought about asking why Lucas is the way he is. But she thought that could be a little too personal. Plus she didn't want to be asking questions about that boy that could make it seem like she did have any interest in him. She did find it strange though. Zay was such a cool guy who was real and honest. Lucas was the complete opposite from what she could tell. Maya wondered why Zay didn't grab him by the shoulders and shake him, screaming at him to stop acting like some jerk, womanizing player. If Riley was the one acting like that, she would've put that to a stop a long time ago. But again Maya didn't ask, it didn't seem like her place. Although she was super curious to know, something inside of her told her to not waste more breath than necessary on Lucas Friar.

"Maya!" Riley's voice rang out. A wave of blonde hair came flying as Maya whipped her head around to look at Riley.

"Hm?"

"I've been asking you the same question for like 5 minutes trying to get your attention!" Riley laughed. Maya felt a rush of hot blush run into her cheeks.

"Sorry. I was-I-I, um, I was just-" Maya tried to explain, taking note of what page Riley was on in her bio book to catch up to her. Riley stuck her hand up, cutting off her best friend's stuttering words.

"I know what you were staring at," smirked the brunette.

Maya brought her gaze back over to the spot across Topanga's. Josh Matthews sat at a small table by the door. She watched as he lifted his arm up and fixed the grey beanie that hung off his head in the perfect way. The blonde felt hearts form in her eyes as she watched him sip his coffee and nibble at his chocolate croissant. She doesn't quite remember the exact day that she developed her crush on Josh Matthews, the kind and charming uncle of her own best friend. But she knows that day was a very long time ago. Maya can barely even remember a time when she was wasn't constantly thinking about Josh. Nothing in her brain could stop her from fantasizing and believing in a 'someday' for the two of them. A smile formed on Maya's lips, but she didn't even notice. She was only forced out of her fantasy by Riley's fingers snapping in her face.

"Why don't you just go talk to him?" Riley smiled.

"I never know what to say Riles! We've had the conversation about the two of us before, a hundred times. And I just don't know if I can live just being friends with him. What if that's too hard?" Maya voiced her concerns. Josh was a typical Matthews. He was too kind to turn her away, so they would always talk and laugh. But inside, Maya felt a little sting from their conversations because she knew he looked at her as just a friend. Admittedly, that title was a lot better than the title of 'little niece's best friend' that she held up until about 2 years ago. But she wanted more.

"And it's not too hard just staring at him from across a bakery? Just go say hi and talk to him!" Riley insisted. Before Maya could protest, Riley reached over and shut Maya's bio book, snatching the pen out of her hand. "Go!"

Maya smiled and slid out her seat. She didn't know if she loved or hated Riley for this. The object of her affection had his eyes glued on the laptop screen in front of him. He didn't notice Maya walk up to his tiny table until she was right in front of him.

"Hey Boing," she said. More words wanted to come out of her mouth, but she was suddenly rendered a little speechless by the smile that rested on his mouth.

"Hey Hart. I was wondering when you were going to come over and say hi," he smiled. He cleared off the seat next to him, as it had previously been riddled with more of his notes and textbooks that didn't fit on the table. As he moved them to the floor, Maya sat in the vacated seat and peaked at his computer screen.

"What are you working on?" she asked, genuinely curious about what he was so focused on. Josh was in his last year at NYU and the entire Matthews clan was so proud. Maya was proud, too. She saw how hard he worked. Sometimes she would catch him at Topanga's just like right now, studying and drinking all the coffee the bakery had in stock. Once the year before, Maya had slept over at Riley's and got up in the middle of the night to get a drink. She caught Josh, who had been staying with his brother while his roommate at school had a pretty bad cold, sitting up in the living room. Studying hard as always for his finals, Maya offered to help. He let her for a bit, but smiled and told her to go back to bed when her yawns kept her from being able to ask him questions from his study guides.

"Working on my intro paper for my psychology class. It has to be 12 pages long," Josh said. Maya's eyes grew wide as she heard the length requirement.

"Jesus! Are you serious? 12 Pages?" she asked, her eyes forming huge wide circles in complete shock. Josh nodded. His face showed just how tired he was. The small table was riddled with books and large stacks of highlighted papers. It was hard for Maya to not lose her mind just staring at the materials. She couldn't imagine having to actually read and process all that information. It was incredibly overwhelming. "Well maybe I could help?"

"What do you know about psychology?" Josh smirked, knowing the small girl just wanted to be around him.

Maya reached up and grabbed one of the closet packets to her. There were large portions of highlighted text in small print. "Well…" she said, scanning the page to find something that made sense to her. "Yeah I don't know any of these words," she laughed. Josh's hand grabbed the thick packet out of Maya's with a smile.

"Thanks Maya but I think I'm on my own. Do you want a pastry?" Maya raised an eyebrow at the question.

"I wouldn't want to disrupt your hard work," she remarked. Of course inside she definitely didn't want to do anything else besides sit at this tiny table and eat a pastry while Josh talked to her. Even if he just went back to typing his paper, she would be content with just sitting there with him. It sounded lame but she was basking in the thought.

"I could use a break," Josh said with his dimpled smile. Just a head nod from Maya was all the answer Josh needed to get up from his seat and walk over to the counter. Without even realizing at first, she found herself combing her fingers through her long blond hair, trying to tame the slight frizz that had formed through the windy New York autumn day. She managed to catch herself doing it and stop just seconds before Josh came back to the table. One more chocolate croissant for him was in one hand, while a warmed up blueberry muffin was in the other hand. He set the muffin down in front of Maya and reclaimed his seat.

"So," Maya started, wanting to begin a new conversation with her crush, "besides this terrifying 12 page paper, what else is new with you?"

"Well I think I'll be getting my own place soon," Josh answered. An excited expression grew on Maya's face. She couldn't help but wonder if she would be invited over. "I'll probably have to get a roommate, or two or three, but it'll still be my own place!"

"Well I better be the first one invited over to see the place," Maya smirked. She never felt the need to flirt with Josh. The college age boy knew how she felt about him. But every so often she couldn't stop a little giggle or seductive tone of voice from coming out around him. She batted her eyelashes waiting for a response to her suggestion of being the first one at his new place. His face was unreadable and then when a little laugh came out of his mouth, she didn't know if it was for a good reason or bad reason.

"Consider this an official invite," he finally said. Maya could practically feel the blush rushing to her cheeks, making her face turn bright pink.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Josh returned with a smile. Their eyes connected and stayed glued to each other's for a minute. Maya didn't notice the silence. She was too busy picturing her and Josh being alone at his new place.

Josh's eyes suddenly pulled away from hers and ripped her from her quaint daydream of what could be. His eyes landed on his watch and then went wide.

"Oh hey I have to go. There's a guest speaker at school and we get extra credit to go and ask a question from the audience," he explained. Maya helped him gather up his scattered papers and place them in the correct folders and in between pages inside his books. Once all of his things were gathered, he looked back at Maya. "I'll see you later Hart."

Maya lowered back down into her seat as she watched the grinning boy rush out of Topanga's and onto the New York streets towards NYU. Her face seemed to beam with joy over the short conversation and the grin seemed to keep tugging at the corners of her mouth. She stayed at that little table for a bit longer, not quite ready to return to Riley. As her little fingers picked at the crumbs of her muffin from her plate in front of her, she heard a voice.

"Who was he?"

Maya looked up to find the source of the voice. Much to her dismay, the source of the voice was found leaning against the wall next to the little table she sat at.

"God why are you here?" she whined. "How do you even know about this place?" She had come to terms with the fact that avoiding him at school was probably not going to happen. He liked bugging her with his presence way too much. But Topanga's was supposed to be a refuge, a place where she didn't have to be harassed by Lucas Jerk-face Friar.

"Next time you want to keep a place secret," he started as he moved over and sat in the seat that previously was Josh's spot, "don't tell my best friend where it is." During the weekend, Maya brought Zay to the bakery shop owned by her own best friend's mom. Had she known bringing him there would mean having Lucas there too, then she wouldn't have brought him.

"Why can't I avoid you?" Maya wondered out loud.

"Maybe it's just fate," Lucas winked. Maya's eyes rolled over in her head, wanting so badly to get up and leave this meeting. But she was brought back down with the repeat of the boy's question. "So who was the guy?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said simply. Finally her butt left the seat and she carried her empty muffin plate to the counter. Lucas was right on her heels as he followed her over.

"I couldn't help but notice some college level books on the table. Maya are you flirting with a college guy?" As expected, his classic 'Lucas smirk' was held steady on his face. The small girl didn't feel the need or desire to give him the satisfaction of a response. It was none of his business; she was none of his business. Without eye contact, she turned away and started back towards the table Riley sat at. "Well," Lucas's voice rang out after her, "'trying' to flirt."

Maya turned on her heels when she heard the camouflaged insult. "Excuse me? I know how to flirt," she spoke, walking slowly back towards the boy she despised.

"Not from what I saw." He was really testing her patience. As much as Maya didn't want to engage, she felt this uncontrollable need to prove him wrong.

"What would you know?"

"I know how to get girls in bed," he said smugly, as if that was his proudest quality of himself.

Maya felt the need to detach herself from one of those girls Lucas spoke of. "I wouldn't know." Her smirk, she hoped, was a good shield at hiding that fact that she really was kind of attracted to him, especially when they argued for some reason.

"Oh trust me. You want to sleep with me, even if you don't realize it now," he promised.

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Because every girl wants to sleep with me," he said. And just like that, as if on cue, Maya was significantly less attracted to him.

Maya ducked her head down, concealing a laugh directed at his ego. "God, ok. You know just because you can get a lot of girls into bed with you, doesn't mean you're any good."

"Well every girl is different. Each one likes something a little different in bed," he said. His fingertips soon touched Maya's arms, lightly stroking. The touch only lasted for a moment before the girl's tiny hand swatted him away. "I bet you're one of those girls who likes to be controlled. Hair pulling. Letting the man take total control," he spoke slowly. The seductive tone of his slow, drawn out words, admittedly, lured Maya in a little bit to the fantasy he was trying to set. But it wasn't enough, it was still so easy for Maya to pull herself back from his words. It wasn't until he was done talking though that she realized she was right under the brim of his nose. Small foot-steps brought him so much closer to her. To correct the space, she took a couple steps back before letting out her next words.

"Really? That's what you think?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah I bet you'd like that."

"I'd like it if you dropped dead," Maya spat out.

"I like it when you're feisty," Lucas smirked. Could he be serious right now? The more Maya talked to this guy, the more confused she was on how so many girls were into him.

"You are the most annoying human being on the planet," Maya said in a serious tone. Lucas leaned in close to her, the smirk never leaving his face.

"As long as I'm number one babe." Another wink from the annoying Texas was all she got before he turned to walk out of the bakery. Grumbles escaped from Maya's frowning mouth.

She sat back down at her table with Riley across from her. Steam was practically rising from the blonde's ears. Her best friend was rambling off words into her ear that no doubt had to do with her public encounter with Lucas. Maya recognized Riley's jealous eyes from across the table but she didn't look like she was speaking angry words, so Maya figured it was ok that she wasn't actually listening one bit.

Oddly enough, she was thinking about Lucas instead of listening to Riley's rambles. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why, but for some reason, she enjoyed their little game. Her and Lucas arguing had grown into some sort of weird, demented game between the two of them. It gave her a little rush. But he made her blood boil up! Her skin felt like it was hot red after even the tiniest and quickest conversation. She didn't understand this feeling and quite honestly, she didn't want to. Whatever kept her far away from Lucas, that's what she was do without question.

 **A/N: I'm trying to make Lucas as asshole-y as I can but it's hard because that's such a character change lol I really hope you guys are liking it!**

 **Please let me know how you feel about this story in the comments! I'll try my very hardest to get the next chapter up soon! Love you guys!:)**


	4. The Proposition

**A/N: Next chapter up! Also please read the authors note at the end of the chapter… it's important regarding my writing and future updates.**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 4: "The Proposition"

Even a couple days after Maya's little meeting with Josh, and unfortunate aftermath with Lucas, the blonde Texan himself hadn't mentioned it. Of course he had stopped her in the hallway a few times, smirk firmly attached to his annoyingly handsome face. But she was just happy the Josh conversation was being avoided.

She had yet to mention the little piece of information of Josh getting his own apartment soon to Riley. Something about telling Riley made it too real. She didn't want to get her hopes up about being invited over. And she definitely didn't want Riley pressuring her uncle to invite the blonde over. Although Josh had technically already given her an 'official invite,' she just couldn't help but feel like it wasn't completely official until he actually had the place, since right now it was more thought than reality, at least as far as Maya knew.

Daydreaming, she walked through the halls of school. Without warning, she turned her head to see Josh's face through the window of a class room. She stopped walking. Her confusion lessened a little when Mr. Matthews came into view in the window next to Josh. Their faces were neutral, as if their conversation wasn't much. But Maya found herself still very curious as to what brought Josh to her school, her turf. She turned to keep walking, not wanting to torture herself by harping on Josh or draw attention to her staring by getting caught by Josh or Mr. Matthews. Leaning against the lockers, Lucas stood talking to a girl. Well, he was talking, she was giggling insensibly. Maya could only guess that the girl was trying to 'flirt' with Lucas, but to Maya she was just being annoying and obnoxious. Lucas didn't seem to care though. The girl was pretty and that was probably all he cared about. Maya suddenly recognized the girl in front of Lucas as Kenzie. She was on the cheer squad, she helped Riley get the moves down when she was called in to fill in for a girl. Kenzie was nice, but she was loose. In other words, just Lucas's type.

Maya didn't care too much to watch Lucas smile at the pretty brunette as she batted her eyelashes and ran her finger up and down his chest. She tried to walk by but heard her name in Lucas's voice.

"Maya!"

At first, she thought she was imagining it. Her blonde head whipped back a little to glance at Lucas and Kenzie. Lucas was already taking little steps to catch up to Maya who stood only about 10 feet from him. Kenzie sighed and walked away, giving Maya a dirty look over her shoulder before turning a corner. A completely unwarranted look, Maya thought. But she did find it slightly amusing making Kenzie upset like that.

"Can I help you Lucas?" Maya asked sarcastically. "Weren't you busy with Kenzie?"

"Who?" Lucas asked confused with his eyebrows arched.

Maya pointed off in the direction that Kenzie departed in. "The girl you were literally just talking to." Lucas glanced back and still looked confused.

"I thought her name was Courtney?"

"Wow you are such a jerk," Maya said. She honestly wanted to hit him upside the head for being such a conceited asshole. He can't even spend 2 seconds to just learn the name of the girl he's trying to sleep with. That's even lower than Maya thought he could sink. "Look what do you want?"

"Couldn't help but notice that college boy is here," he told her. Maya's eyebrows arched up, both at the fact that Lucas thinks this is any of his business and at the fact that he not only remembered Josh's face, but also noticed him here at school.

"Let me ask you something? Why do you think my life is any of your business?" Maya voiced her concerns.

Lucas let out a small laugh. "You intrigue me," he answered. Maya laughed, because if she's being honest, that line was a load of bullshit. She had begun chalking it up in her head to him being insecure about her being the only girl in the whole school that didn't want to sleep with him. She leaned in close to his ear.

"I think we both know what you find intriguing about me," she whispered in response.

"Are you offering?" the Texan smirked.

"In your dreams Huckleberry," Maya smirked back.

"Huckleberry?" Lucas questioned. Maya had only called him that to Farkle. Farkle found it funny, but warned her not to use the nickname around Riley. The brunette would berate Maya endlessly trying to get her to give Lucas a chance and be friendly.

"I think it fits you. You have a very Huckleberry quality."

Lucas didn't look upset or offended. He actually looked pretty amused at the Texas style nickname. Silently cursing herself, Maya wished she didn't find him so charming when he laughed. "A quality you're into?" He always seemed to ruin his cute face with his words.

"I'm not playing this game," Maya laughed. "Once again, in your dreams," she repeated. She began walking away, already feeling a little headache come on from her interaction.

"A very specific wet dream!" he called after her.

Maya didn't even realize that she was so distracted by Lucas and his disgusting insinuations. It wasn't until a door opened in front of her and she stood face to face with Josh that she realized she had walked the wrong way down the hall. Her eyes met with Josh's and a smile crept onto her face.

"Hey Maya," Josh said, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey Boing. Wh-what are you doing here?" Maya asked, trying to keep her cool. She could practically feel Lucas burning a hole in the back of her head with his eyes. He was probably staying amused by watching Maya fidget nervously.

"I was just dropping something off for Cory," Josh answered. "You look good today. I like your hair like that."

His words spun around and around in Maya's head. They felt warm and suddenly she didn't know how to respond. If only he wasn't such a Matthews, giving her compliments. He had no idea what that did to her. She made a quick mental note to wear her hair like this, in its high ponytail, more often.

"Thanks," Maya smiled. She wasn't positive, but she thought she could hear a snicker come out of Lucas's mouth in the background. She thought about turning around and giving him a glare that would frighten even the toughest person. But she decided against it, not wanting to shine attention onto him. Josh hadn't made any glances up at him and Maya guessed he hadn't noticed him. She wanted to keep it that way. "Do you have class today?" she asked. It was a dumb and average question. It was a question that radiated in small talk.

"Yeah actually. I have class in an hour. Then I'm apartment hunting later," he told her. Maya's face beamed. She liked being kept in the know about Josh and him getting his own place. It made her feel special, especially special to him.

"That sounds exciting!" Maya smiled as she tried to think of words to say next. "Maybe send me pictures of ones you like? I watch a lot of House Hunters. I know a good apartment when I see one."

Josh laughed at her little joke, which Maya thought was a good sign.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that," he said. Josh slid past Mya, his dimpled smile lighting up her world briefly. His eyes moved away from hers but she kept her eyes on him until he disappeared down the hall.

The little blonde sunk into her own world. A world where her and Josh got to be together. Maybe she was crazy for thinking it but she couldn't help but think that there was a chance for the two of them. Not just in the future but soon.

"So let me get this straight. You'll sleep with him?" Maya had almost forgotten that Lucas was lurking behind her during her moment.

"I'm not sleeping with him," she grumbled, walking away.

"Not when you flirt like that," he chuckled. Maya couldn't deal. She turned to walk away, grunting under breathe. No surprise to her, Lucas quickly followed behind. "I have a proposition for you Shortstack."

Blonde hair whipped around as the nickname caught her attention. "Did you just call me Shortstack?" Her height wasn't exactly something she was confident in. Lucas leaned in close to her, infamous smirk in place.

"If I get to be Huckleberry, then you get to be Shortstack," he smirked. Maya felt both a little amused and angry. Anger was taking front and center. But amusement followed close behind. Lucas knew how to fight back when she picked at him. Not many people she knew did that.

"A proposition?" her follow up question asked. In her head, she was actually counting down the seconds until the word 'sex' appeared in this proposition Lucas had.

"I'm going to help you get college boy," he said simply, as if it was the most casual sentence he had ever spoken. Maya burst in laughs but Lucas's face remained unchanged, unaffected by her entertained laughter.

"That's funny Lucas! At least now I know what girls see in you, you're hilarious," she laughed, turning on her heels to walk away again.

"I'm serious!" he insisted. Maya didn't trust a word that came out of his mouth. In her defense, he had never really given her a reason to trust him. She tried to analyze his facial expression, stare at every feature he had to find some resemblance of truth. That sneaky grin was a mark in the 'do not trust' column. His raised eyebrows and the little crinkles in his forehead, both 'do not trust' check marks.

"Why would I let you do that?"

"Because I know exactly what older men want. I could coach you. He'll be yours in no time," Lucas explained. Confusion filled Maya's head. This was not just about Lucas being a nice guy. He didn't know how to be a nice guy as far as she could tell. He had one thing on his mind and she knew somehow he saw this plan leading to him getting to have it.

"No. This," she said, gesturing between the two of them, "can only lead to bad things. I don't need your help."

Another attempt to walk away from this was ruined by Lucas giving her an offer she really wanted to refuse, but couldn't. "I'll stay away from Riley!" he offered. With her back to him, Maya thought over the concept.

"So you're offering to help me get Josh, the boy I've been wanting since I was like 9. And you don't hurt my best friend?" Maya summed up. It seemed too good to be true. Lucas nodded, but Maya wasn't buying it. "Alright what's in it for you?"

"I'm bored. Every girl in this school is too easy," he said, sounding like a total pig. "Plus… when this is over, you'll owe me a little favor."

There it was. Maya was positive a sexual favor would be involved in all of this and there it was.

"I'm not having sex with you Lucas!"

"Oh come on just once. You'll like it I promise," he winked.

"No!" Maya rolled her eyes at the boy, but all he did was let out a chuckle.

"Fine. The favor won't be sex. But you'll owe me!"

Maya didn't know what to say. Of course, she didn't want Riley to get hurt and she was already way into the boy to resist him if he actually offered. And who knows, maybe she might actually get Josh from this deal. Her eyebrow raised up, looking the devious boy in front of her up and down. For Riley, she might have to trust him. For Josh, she might have to trust him.

"Alright Huckleberry here's the deal. I let you help me. You actually give me good advice about Josh and stay away from Riley! No dreamy 'hi''s in the hallway. No making eyes at her from across the room. Actually you don't even talk to her. She doesn't exist to you! You do that, and I will owe you one favor," she demanded. "One non-sexual favor!" she added after seeing his smile light up a little more.

"You got yourself a deal Shortstack," he confirmed. "Come over tonight. Our coaching will start. According to every interaction I've ever seen you have with Josh, I have a lot of work to do." Maya smacked his arm for the insult.

She turned to walk down the hall and to the cafeteria. She could feel her phone vibrating in her jeans pocket. It was no doubt Riley and Farkle asking where she was and why she wasn't at lunch yet. She had no intention of telling either of them about the deal she just made with the Texan she claimed to despise. Riley's head would blow off and Farkle would scold Maya for hours about trusting Lucas. Maya didn't trust him at all. Ulterior motives were definitely swirling around his egotistical head. Maya was cautious. But as long as Riley was safe from Lucas's gravitational pull, Maya would be fine.

But the farther away she got from Lucas, the more she thought about what she had just done. She knew she would grow to regret making this kind of deal with a jerk, Huckleberry like Lucas Friar.

 **A/N: The plot is picking up a little bit! Some of you worried in the reviews last chapter that there would be Rucas in the story. Don't worry! It was just that little bit, mostly to really push Maya into taking the deal with Lucas for the Riley reasoning in this chapter lol**

 **Ok so I'm sure we've all heard that GMW is officially over and isn't being renewed. Unfortunately knowing that I will never get to see Lucaya and all they could've been play out on screen, after all the faith and hope I put into them, I have lost almost all my inspiration for my lucaya stories:( I'm sure it will come back but I won't be updating my one-shot story for a while until I am able to write again. THIS STORY WILL STILL BE UPDATED. This story is already fully written so there is nothing stopping me from posting it! It will delay the posting of the next multi-chapter story I'm trying to write… but asshole!Friar won't be effected. Thanks for staying loyal and still having a love for lucaya.**

 **I will always believe they could've been amazing and iconic…. Love you guys! Please please review!**


	5. Friar Residence

**A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters that is in this story. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 5: "Friar Residence"

Maya felt like she was in the twilight zone as she walked up the steps of the front of Lucas's building. What was she even doing there? A tiny feeling in her gut told her this wouldn't end well. Maybe, she hoped, that by the time she stepped out of the elevator on the 6th floor that she would come to her senses and turn around and go right back home. But she didn't. She walked out of the elevator and took small, timid steps until she stood in front of the door to apartment 609. Unsure, her fist stuttered in front of the door.

 _Knock knock knock._

The sharp knocking signaled her readiness to start this 'coaching session' as Lucas called it. It was late afternoon. Lucas had told her to be at his place at around 4:30, since he had a baseball meeting after school. The entire hour and a half between the end of school and now, Maya was pacing in her room. Back and forth she walked, trying to avoid thoughts about just how bad this could end. But those thoughts were apparently not enough to keep her from standing here in front of the Friar's door. 'For Riley' she kept chanting to herself under her breathe. It took a couple minutes but finally the door swung open and Lucas appeared on the other side.

"Hey," Maya breathed out.

"Hey," smirked the blonde boy. Maya was already so over this little meeting.

"Can we just get this over with?" Maya grunted, pushing past Lucas and entering his apartment. She looked around, eyeing the environment. It was actually pretty normal. Admittedly she had imagined a cliché dwelling complete with cowhide chairs and cowboy boots as vases. But everything seemed normal. It was a sizeable apartment, with charming family pictures all on the wall. It was a nice neighborhood, not far from Riley's actually. A complete change from Maya's apartment.

Once Maya's eyes stopped wandering the nice apartment, Lucas spoke. "Should we go into the bedroom?" he suggested. A quick eyebrow raised on Maya's face, though she wasn't even surprised at the suggestion. "Not for that!" he quickly corrected. "Unless that sounds good to you," he said, moving in close to Maya.

"Don't even touch me, Sundance," Maya insisted. Lucas didn't even bat a confused eye at the new nickname. Secretly, Maya had a few more nicknames to throw out at him.

Lucas just smiled and walked past her towards the hallway. Figuring he was going to the bedroom, she followed. Her eyes hovered over the framed photos that lined the walls of the hallway. Most of them were of Lucas earning some type of achievement, mostly with him in sports uniforms. One in particular that caught Maya's eye was of a little boy with scruffy blonde hair riding a sheep. She made a mental note to ask about that particular photo later. Soon the two teens made their way into a room that looked as normal as the rest of the house. There was a bed resting against the wall opposite of the door with a blue bed spread on it. The walls had several sports posters tacked to it, along with medals hanging from hooks and trophies that sat on shelves. Maya quickly assumed they were all for sports. Of course the room wasn't as neat as Riley's room, but for a teenage boy's room, Maya expected much worse than a few shirts discarded on the floor and a dirty glass on the nightstand.

The blonde boy who owned the room quickly plopped himself down on the bed. His hand patted the spot next to him, signaling Maya to take a seat as well. She laughed and shook her head at the suggestion.

"No," she spat out like he had just told a real joke by proposing she sit next to him.

"What?" he asked genuinely confused.

"I'm staying far away from your bed, Huckleberry."

"What do you think I'm going to jump on top of you?" he laughed in response.

"I wouldn't put it past you," she snarled to him. Her eyes searched the room for another seat. There was technically a seat on one side of the room, but on it sat a pair of Lucas's boxers. Maya didn't know if they were dirty or clean, but she didn't want to touch them either way. So when her eyes came across a large wicker hamper, she decided that was her best option. She pulled it over close to the bed and put it against the wall so she could lean. She climbed on top and crisscrossed her legs. It wasn't the comfiest spot. Some of the broken wicker pieces were poking her in places she did not want to be poked, but she would rather sit here than on the bed with perverted Lucas. If she twisted her body in a certain way, it wasn't so bad. Lucas took the hint that Maya would rather sit on the hamper than on the bed with him and spread his body out to get comfortable. "Ok. Tell me how to get Josh, since you're such an expert," she said sarcastically.

"First thing is first: you have got to get some sexier clothes!"

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked, offended.

She never worried much about how she dressed. Her style wasn't very provocative. And besides that, she didn't even think she had the body to pull off 'sexy clothes.' Josh wasn't like Lucas. He didn't have an extra interest in girls who wore skirts so short that they could be belts.

"You're hot Maya. Show it off. Give him something to look at. The guy's probably bored!" he said. She couldn't decide if that was all a giant compliment or a huge insult. In Lucas's twisted and misogynistic mind, it was probably a compliment, but Maya wasn't buying it.

"I don't think Josh is really the kind of guy to pay attention to that kind of thing," Maya explained with her own smirk.

"Is he a guy?" Lucas asked. Maya was confused at the obvious and unnecessary question. But she nodded her head nonetheless. "Then he's paying attention to that kind of thing. More boobs, less words." Maya really couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. She really should've expected this kind of thing. It made her almost disappointed in herself that she kind of didn't.

"You know not all guys are like you right? Not every guy is just interested in girls for sex," she defended. What she didn't expect was for Lucas to start laughing. But he did. "What is so funny?"

"It just seems a bit naïve to believe that," he said.

"Look I've known Josh for a long time and I just don't think he's going to be more interested in me because my boobs are spilling out of my top or you can see my bellybutton ring under my shirt," she explained.

Lucas's curious eyebrow raised at the last part of her sentence. "You're bellybutton's pierced?" Maya then gave him an immediate eye roll. She felt like her eyes might end up permanently rolling by the time she leaves his house if he keeps this attitude up.

"Not even close to being the point."

"Trust me! You are going to want to show off that body of yours," he grinned, making Maya gag in her mouth a little. "And a little more touching would get the job done. Just touch his chest or something. Let him imagine what having you touch him in other places could be like," he winked.

And at this point, Maya felt like she might gag for real.

"You're disgusting," she smiled.

"These are basic facts Maya. Touch the guy a little bit. Let him see that bangin' body. These are just basics. We'll go from there once I can see how you do with him," Lucas spoke.

Maya did not appreciate being talked to like she was some kind of science experiment. And she sure as hell wasn't so sure how she felt about the suggestions she was getting. Of course they were suggestions that Lucas would give, assuming that every guy was a disgusting pig like he was. The wheels in her head turned and turned trying to decide if she should listen to the boy or not. Everything he said seemed ridiculous, but on the other hand, she had been trying to get Josh for years. And nothing. Maybe this would make her seem mature enough for him. Maybe this would help him not see her as some little kid. Maybe it was possibly worth a try? A little shudder ran through Maya to even think that Lucas had just given her 'good' advice.

"Fine. We can try it! But if this doesn't work, then we're done," she demanded. A mischievous smile ran over Lucas's face.

"God I am jealous of the things he is going to get to do to you," Lucas said, his eyes running up and down her body.

"How is it that you can claim to know so much about what men want when you act like a child most of the time?" she grinned.

Lucas didn't get a chance to answer. As soon as he opened his mouth to answer, probably with some crude response, a voice echoed through the apartment.

"Lucas! Are you home?"

Lucas ran a hand through his hair. This was the first time that Maya had seen him even a little nervous. He must have caught on to the same thing and quickly recomposed himself. Maya's head turned to the door when it suddenly flew open. A small women poked her head in and gave a surprised grin when she spotted Maya sitting on the hamper. Maya eyed the woman carefully. She didn't see one speck of anything 'Lucas-esk' on her. In fact, this woman seemed kind and had a toothless, but honest smile. Short blonde hair framed her face and stopped at her shoulders. Her big green eyes were probably the only thing about this woman that immediately reminded her of Lucas.

"I didn't know you had someone over Lucas," she said. Her eyes stayed on Maya, but Maya didn't feel intimidated or apprehensive.

"This is Maya. Maya this is my mom," Lucas introduced the two with little to no emotion or enthusiasm.

"Hi Mrs. Friar," Maya smiled. She suddenly felt just a little awkward. Thinking of how many girls Lucas has probably brought home before, she didn't want Mrs. Friar to think she was one of those girls that Lucas courted for a couple days and then were never seen in his home again, only for his mom to be introduced to a new girl a couple days later. It was a little terrifying to believe that the woman would already have that impression of her even though Maya had only just said about 3 words to her.

"Hi honey! It's so nice to meet you. And aren't you pretty," Mrs. Friar raved to Maya.

"Mom!" Lucas complained. Mrs. Friar simply brushed him off and rolled her eyes at the boy. Maya found it amusing and giggled a bit, but only received a dark look from Lucas.

The little southern drawl present in Mrs. Friar's voice was actual a little comforting to Maya. It was odd, she thought it would make the blonde woman more intimidating to her, but it made her feel welcomed by the Texas woman.

"Do you want to stay for dinner Maya?" his mom asked. Maya spotted a little grunt from Lucas at the suggestion. The thought of saying yes just to spite him crossed Maya's head. And she thought she wouldn't mind being in the company of Mrs. Friar, but she couldn't take hearing anymore of Lucas talking.

"Oh no Mrs. Friar I actually have to get home," she sighed.

"Darn it! Well another time then. You have not lived until you have had classic Texas style chili," the charming woman promised. Maya laughed and knew that she would probably have to take Mrs. Friar up on that, since chili was one of her favorites, but she usually had to settle for having it out of a can.

Mrs. Friar patted a hand down on Lucas's arm and smiled a smile as perfect as Lucas's as she left the room. It was a charming surprise that the worst boy Maya had the misfortune to know just so happened to have such a sweet mom. And she was definitely at least part of the reason Lucas so good-looking. The woman herself was so beautiful.

For the next hour, Lucas kept spouting off tips about how to get Josh to take a larger notice of Maya. Each suggestion was more vulgar than the last. Finally Maya decided she had enough suggestions. She gathered up her bag and her sweater, which she had discarded at some point over the last hour and started towards to bedroom door. Lucas insisted on walking her to the front door. Maya thought it was odd, he didn't seem too much like a 'walk you to the door' kind of guy. Little did she know, he only offered to ensure that his mom, who was in the kitchen making her chili, wouldn't say anything too embarrassing on Maya's way out. Upon passing by the kitchen, Mrs. Friar took notice of the two teens walking by.

"Are you leaving Maya?" she wondered out loud. Maya just nodded, she could tell Lucas was trying to get her out as soon as possible. It struck her as odd, considering Lucas would normally try to get her to stay and then proceed to try to get her in bed. But he was almost rushing her out in this moment. "I just finished the chili! Here let me get you some to take home!" his mom offered.

Maya wouldn't dare decline the offer. The aroma coming from the big pot of simmering chili was too good to pass up. She watched as Mrs. Friar collected a large Tupperware from one of the cabinets and started pouring chili into it.

"Not to toot my own horn but I'm kind of an amazing cook," the woman smiled. She dug through the same cabinet to find the right lid to the container she filled for Maya.

"Calm down mom this isn't the Food Network," Lucas chuckled.

His mom paid him no mind. "Oh shush Lucas," she said, pulling out the right lid and covering the food container.

"Yeah Lucas shush," Maya teased, earning an annoyed smirk from the boy. Mrs. Friar slid the container over to Maya and the blonde collected it happily. She bid a farewell to the kind woman and let herself out of the apartment.

Lucas sat at the counter watching his mom stir the chili, which was his favorite meal that his mom ever made. His eyes looked up to notice that her eyes were glued on him. And to make it more suspicious, she had a small knowing grin across her lips.

"What?" he asked.

"You've never brought a girl home before," she commented, her hand still stirring her chili as it simmered.

"I've brought girls home before," Lucas insisted. This is what he was afraid of. As soon as he heard his mom's voice ring out, he knew she would make a deal out of Maya being there. His mom had a habit of making things bigger than they were.

"No you haven't! Name one?"

"What about that girl Lori?" Lucas suggested. Wanting to ignore the topic his mom had brought up, he picked up one of the stacked bowls and started pouring chili into it.

"Lucas Friar that was when you were in the 4th grade! And you didn't bring her home, I brought her home to babysit her for her mother," his mom corrected with a laugh. "This is the first girl you've ever brought home!" she exclaimed.

"Ok so I brought her home. Trust me mom this is not a big deal!" he said, stuffing his mouth with chili. To be honest, after this, he wasn't sure if he would ever bring her home again. It wasn't worth this conversation with his mom to bring Maya back around. He vowed that he would get her to sleep with him, it was like his own little personal mission. But it seems he would have to figure out a way to do it that didn't involve bringing her around anymore.

His mom poured herself a bowl of chili and covered it with just a sprinkling of cheese. "Well she's nice. I like her," she commented. Just as she was about to take a bite of her food, she stopped and realized she needed to say something to her son, something important. "Don't hurt that girl."

"Mom I'm not even interested in that girl. I just… I don't know, she's different than other girls. She's just fun to hang out with," Lucas answered. It wasn't a lie. Not entirely. Did he want to sleep with her? Absolutely. Maya was one of the hottest girls in the whole school, whether or not she thought so herself. But something about how she wasn't openly throwing herself at Lucas made him very intrigued. He couldn't put his finger on why.

"Mhmm." That's the only answer Mrs. Friar gave her son. Lucas found it slightly unsettling.

"Why did you just make that sound?" he asked.

"Oh no reason," she grinned, as she took her chili and exited the room.

 **A/N: Writing Lucas's mom was so fun! I've never put her into a story before so it was fun to imagine what she would be like. I picture her to be small like Maya with shorter hair and always wearing loose fitting jeans because she's a relaxed Texas girl lol But we'll see more of her later in the story a couple different times.**

 **Thanks so much for reading you guys! I love you all! I hope you review so I can read you thoughts on the story so far:)**


	6. Josh

**A/N: Hope y'all enjoy the next chapter!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 6: "Josh"

Lucas and Maya decided it was best to get the first interaction with Josh since the coaching over with sooner rather than later. Well, Maya decided. She didn't want to have to spend any more time privately with Lucas than was completely necessary. So it was decided that the next day after school, they would go to Topanga's. Technically, they weren't entirely sure he would be there. It wasn't every day that he went to Topanga's to study, but most days. After all, he did get a free pastry each day since his sister-in-law owned the place.

Lucas tried like hell to get Maya to just ask Josh if he was going to Topanga's. He didn't feel like sitting there for possibly hours waiting to see if the guy would show up; unless of course Maya would be down to jump on top of the table and do it right there, those were his exact words which earned a sharp whack on the arm from the tiny blonde. Maya refused to ask Josh, since he would probably want to know why she was curious and then it wouldn't look very casual when she showed up at Topanga's too. It would just make her nervous to talk to him, she claimed.

So here they sat, at a little booth at the bakery shop. It hadn't been long since they arrived but Lucas was already wishing he was doing anything else.

"Trust me cowboy, the last thing I want to be doing is sitting here with you of all people," she said when he turned to her to complain.

Maya picked up a napkin out of the napkin holder that the edge of the table. After digging around in her purse for a minute, Lucas's curious eyes on her, she pulled out a pen. Little doodles made their way from her fingers to the napkin. She figured it would help her pass the time. But she could use the calm it would bring. She was so nervous to see Josh and try these 'moves' Lucas had suggested to her. Reluctantly, she took his suggestion and wore a very low cut and cropped white tank top under her open green sweater today. The look of shock she received from Riley when she saw the slightly scandalous piece of clothing was priceless though and Maya got a good laugh from it. Lucas didn't even seem to think that shirt was revealing enough, but said it would do for a first attempt.

The curious green eyes on the handsome boy watched as Maya moved the pen around the napkin. He noticed the little way her tongue pokes out the corner of her mouth when she's really into what she's drawing. "You're good at that," he stated simply. Maya glanced up arching her eyebrow.

"What?"

"Your art. You're good it," he repeated. Maya smiled a smile that almost looked impressed.

"Wow. Did Lucas Friar just give me an actual compliment that didn't involve anything rude or crass?" Maya teased.

With a wink, Lucas followed up his previous compliment. "Well your ass is pretty sweet too but I didn't think you needed to hear me say it." Maya just smirked and went back to her little drawings.

"You can't exactly comment on my artistic skill when you've only seen me draw on a napkin," she commented.

"I've seen your other stuff."

Maya's head perked up a bit to give a questioning look to the boy. "When?"

"You're in an art class with my best friend, Shortstack. I go into the art room with him sometimes. And there's this big cubby with the name Maya Hart on it," he smirked, explaining. He was surprised when he first looked inside her art room cubby. Not because she didn't look like she would be a talented artist, but he was surprised at just how good she was. He was genuinely impressed. "You're good," he understated to her.

"Thanks," Maya smiled. She wasn't used to these real compliments from Lucas. Sure he told her she was hot and had a nice ass or a nice body or compliments that were just too crude to give a reaction to other than an annoyed eye roll. But this was a real compliment on something that was important to her. She wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"When did you start drawing?" Lucas asked. Maya's eyes didn't leave her doodle filled napkin as she answered.

"I don't know. I mean I guess I always drew, like all little kids do. It was just something I really liked. It calmed me down I guess," Maya revealed. Her house was little crazy when she was little, with her parents always fighting and then her dad leaving. Even as a little kid, 6 or 7 years old, art was her escape. "I remember Riley's mom used to set up a little art area for us so we could paint. She would spread a huge sheet out on the living room floor and put out this big roll of paper and Riley and I would just paint and paint. Eventually Riley would get bored and go play with her dolls or watch a video or something. But I would just keep painting. It was like art was the only thing I wanted to do." At this point, her blue eyes met with the green ones sitting across from her. "And when I got older, that just never really went away."

"I bet your family loves having all those paintings and drawings to hang all over your apartment," Lucas commented with a laugh.

"Yeah," Maya said. Her voice was a little low, unsure. She didn't want to reveal was a mess her home life was. With an absent mother and a completely gone father, she didn't have anyone at home to really hang up any of her work. She was hoping Lucas didn't notice the awkward change in her demeanor when the family topic was brought up. She figured he didn't, thinking he was too self-involved and not nearly as observant of that kind of thing to notice. But he did notice. He didn't say anything, part of him didn't care. It was the part that did care that made him a little uneasy. "What about you?" Maya said, wanting to change the subject to something that wasn't her family. "Mr. sports star over here. Did you always play baseball?"

Lucas laughed, also thankful for the subject change. Plus he was always happy to talk about himself. "No. I grew up in Texas so it was football from the time I was 4!"

"Are you serious? I thought the whole Texas football obsession thing was only something that happened on TV," she remarked. Her mind was thinking back to the time she and Riley both had a cold and spent 3 days straight in bed binge-watching every episode of _Friday Night Lights_. She thought that stereotype was just that, a stereotype.

"No it is definitely real! Almost every kid I knew was on the pee-wee football team with me," Lucas answered.

"So when did it turn to baseball?"

"When I met Zay. He was always into baseball. It went from me just throwing him some balls to help him practice his swing and batting so he could practice his pitching to me wanting to join the baseball team. I would get up early and go out to the field and pitch baseballs and practice any way I could," Lucas let out. To him, baseball was his thing. Everyone always kind of pigeon holed Lucas as the kid that was just naturally good at everything. But he thought of baseball as that thing that he didn't want to be naturally good at. He wanted to work at it and improve. He spent so much time in his childhood practicing. It was his release.

"I bet your dad wasn't too happy about that," Maya chuckled, thinking about how the dads on _Friday Night Lights_ would react to their football sons telling them they wanted to play baseball instead.

Lucas's smile faded away. The memories flooded back into his head of when he did tell his dad that he wanted to play on the little league team instead of football. His dad was screaming and calling him a disappointment. It was a while before Lucas was even able to switch to playing on the baseball team. His dad still wasn't happy. They had so many issues and their relationship was a broken mess. To his dad, the whole baseball thing was just the first in a long line of disappointment that came from Lucas.

"It was a sore subject," Lucas tried getting out a chuckle. He wanted to appear as normal as possible, hoping Maya didn't notice his saddened expression. But of course she noticed, it was Maya. She was pretty perceptive. But she thought little of it, pushing it off. She had met his mom. It was pretty obvious to her that he had a great family and the sweet woman he called his mom was just the beginning of it. He was probably just bothered by something else in the moment. Or maybe he caught on to the fact that the two of them were having an actual conversation and that was freaking him out. To be honest, Maya didn't know how she felt about this level of conversation with Lucas of all people.

"What is it about sports?" she asked.

"It's calming. You have art, I have sports. I just remember when every other kid on the field would go in and call it a night, I would stay out and practice for a bit longer," he smiled.

The small smiles on both of the teen's faces lingered on as they looked at each other from across the table. It took both of them a second to remember who they were talking to. Once she did remember that it was Lucas Friar sitting across from her, her eyes darted away quickly and returned to the napkin in front of her. Lucas kept his eyes on her for another second before turning them away to look at all corners of the bakery. He never opened up to people, only Zay. And even with Zay, he preferred to keep a lot of things to himself. Feelings didn't come naturally to Lucas, he blamed his father for that. But that was a different conversation entirely. His eyes found their way over to the doorway and caught sight of the boy they were waiting for. Tapping Maya's arm, he nodded his head towards Josh. She turned around to see the object of her affection, the college-aged Matthews himself, walk up to the counter.

"Are you going to go do this? I have other things to do today," Lucas rushed. Maya shook off his less than enthusiastic comment. Deep breath after deep breath, she rose from her spot at the table and began to walk over, only to feel Lucas tug on her arm. "Pull your shirt down a little," he suggested, pointing at the top of her shirt. Maya did nothing but roll her eyes and walk over to Josh, if for no other reason than to get away from the annoying Texan.

Lucas sat back in the table, glancing up often at Maya as she spoke with Josh. He could see her taking his advice when her hand reached up to touch Josh's chest while she giggled at something that probably wasn't even funny. The whole interaction was going a lot better than he thought it would.

In the middle of Lucas thinking that Maya did have a pretty smile, someone sat down in the seat across from him, previously taken by Maya. The person was revealed to be Zay once Lucas turned his head around.

"What are you doing?" Zay asked vaguely.

"What are you talking about?"

"Maya. You've been talking to her a lot lately. Not that she talks back much, but you try. And it's kind of hard not to notice that you're staring at her right now talking to that guy," Zay explained. Recently, it was becoming increasingly apparent to the boy that his best friend seemed to be putting in a lot of effort with this girl.

"It's not a big deal. I'm helping her out with something," Lucas tried to shake him off. His eyes wandered back over to Maya, who was busy giggling with Josh. By the looks of it, things were going well. He even caught Josh sneaking a peak at the cleavage that was poking out of Maya's top. A mental note made sure Lucas would remember to point that out to Maya and gloat about how he was right about all guys being the same.

Zay's voice was riddled with laughter when he spoke back. "There is only one thing that you help a girl out with," he laughed.

"Trust me I'm getting there," Lucas promised. He had never had this issue before. Maya was actually fighting him. He was convinced that she wanted him as badly as any other girl wanted him. But she just wouldn't admit it. Zay wanted so bad to tell his best friend that that didn't seem like the case. Maya practically literally shuddered every time Lucas's name was even brought up and Zay noticed. So badly he wanted to laugh in Lucas's face and tell him to just give up and admit that not every single girl on the planet would want him. But he held his tongue.

"Why are you chasing this girl?" he asked instead. Although he already had a thought on the answer. "Why do you like this?"

"Zay I don't know. I've never had to chase a girl," Lucas answered.

"Exactly." Lucas looked on at his best friend confused. "You find it new and entertaining."

It made sense to Lucas to hear it like that. Until now, he hadn't thought of it like that. His mind had gone over it a million times to figure out what it was about Maya that had him so wrapped up. But now it made sense to him. He was beginning to think that it wasn't about Maya at all, it was actually really about what she was doing. It was a new thing for him and maybe it was the entertainment that it brought to him. It fueled his fire to want to do nothing but get this tiny blonde under his sheets.

"Zay you brilliant bastard! That's exactly what it is," Lucas shouted at a volume not quite loud enough to be noticed by Maya. Not that she would notice anything that didn't have to do with her and Josh right now.

"Look Lucas just don't hurt her. She's a nice girl," Zay pleaded. Knowing Lucas since they were children, he knew that little could stop Lucas from continuing to try with Maya, even if she didn't seem to want him back. He knew that Lucas would probably never stop believing that Maya _did_ want him back. He even knew that Lucas would most likely barely even look at Maya again after they did sleep together. And that last fact was exactly why he knew he had to give Lucas this warning.

Lucas ran a hand through his hair. This was the second time he had heard someone give him that exact warning about Maya. "Why does everyone feel the need to tell me that?"

Quickly, the tiny blonde who was the topic of the boy's conversation, Maya herself, came over and sat down next to Zay. It was hard not to notice the smile plastered to her face.

"So how did that go?" Lucas wondering out loud.

"He asked me to go to this party with him at NYU tomorrow night!" she announced with excitement in her voice.

"So my advice worked?" a smug Lucas asked. He received nearly simultaneous eye rolls from both Zay and Maya.

"As annoying as I find you, I need a favor?" Maya asked. Lucas raised his eyebrows up and down, suggesting the favor as something sexual. After yet another eye roll, Maya started to get up from the booth.

Lucas held his hand out to stop her, but his smirk remained on his face. "Hold on Shortstack! I'm joking. What's the favor?"

Maya took her seat again, but made a little gaze over at Zay. She was silently asking him with her look if she could trust Lucas. It might not be trust, but in this moment, Lucas could be even a little serious. Zay nodded.

"Can you just come to the party with me?" The two boys around her arched their eyebrows in confusion. "I just need the support. Riley wouldn't come to a college party with me and neither would Farkle." Lucas wasn't too sure if he wanted to go to some party with Maya. He pictured her coming up to him every 10 minutes bugging him about what to say to Josh. Then he wouldn't even be able to enjoy himself.

"Think about all the college girls there's going to be there," Zay reminded Lucas. He turned his head to wink at Maya. Even though he didn't want Lucas to hurt Maya, he could tell Josh was something important to her. She had mentioned him a few times while they hung out or in art class when they would talk while they paint.

Lucas didn't have to think much about going after Zay brought up the college girls that would be there. God Zay knew his best friend so well. "Alright I'll go! But don't bug me so much while we're there," he warned. Maya smirked.

"Thank you, Huckleberry. I've got to go and meet Farkle so he can help me with my science project. I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said, getting up. The boys watched her leaving before Zay turned back to face Lucas.

"Shortstack and Huckleberry?" he asked, a smirk of his own spread wide on his face.

"Don't ask."

 **A/N: I think you guys will really like the next chapter;) Some good Lucaya lol And Zay is catching on! Even if Maya and Lucas are still in denial;)**

 **I'll update soon! Also a couple new one-shots went up in my one-shot compilation story this week so check that out! Love you beauties:)**


	7. NYU

**A/N: It's time for the NYU party and I'm sure most of you can guess what will happen;) but I hope it's still going interesting to read it! Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 7: "NYU"

"Maya what's going on with you and Lucas?" Riley confronted Maya out of the blue. Maya stood with her wide-eyed gaze at her friend, confused about the question. Maya hadn't seen Riley all day and she was starting to think she was actually avoiding her. But here she was, in front of her face, asking her about the one question she didn't want to answer.

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked, shutting her locker.

"I saw you two yesterday at Topanga's! Maya tell me what's going on with you right now," Riley said. The tone of her voice was shaky and unsure. Maya could tell she was trying to be stern but it just wasn't coming out. It broke the blonde's heart a little bit to see her best friend so sad. But upon thinking, holding back her answer, she knew that she couldn't tell her the truth. It was too embarrassing to tell her the truth. The very boy that she always talked down about and criticized was the same boy she was asking for help from about Josh. And god forbid Riley find out that Maya actually only let Lucas help her if he promised to stay away from Riley.

"Riles it's not a big deal!"

"If it's not a big deal then just tell me why you and Lucas were together yesterday. Are you two together?" Riley asked with her voice full of sorrow.

"Ew Riley no! It's not like that!" Maya promised. Her hand landed on Riley's shoulder, trying to console her. She racked her brain trying to figure out something to tell Riley; something that wasn't the truth. "It's just that…uh… Zay! Zay's birthday is coming up and I'm helping Lucas plan a surprise party for him." Riley stared on at the blonde unsure if she really believed the explanation she was being given. Luckily, Maya was pretty good at making a lie convincing. "I mean Lucas makes me want to vomit with every word that comes out of his mouth, but Zay and I have gotten really close. So I figured I could stomach Lucas for a couple weeks until his birthday," Maya smiled.

It took Riley a minute to process. Searching for any sign of lying on Maya's face, she couldn't find one. A smile grew in the place that a prominent frown had just been. "Oh Peaches I'm sorry I accused you!" she cried. Her arms wrapped around Maya for an apologetic hug. She didn't even feel the breath on her neck from Maya releasing a deep sigh of relief.

"It's ok Riley! But I have to go, I have something tonight and I have to get ready for it," Maya said.

"What are you doing tonight?" Riley asked. Her confusion was evident in her voice. For one, neither of them rarely did anything without telling the other. And two, Riley didn't see how Maya could have plans so big she had to start getting ready for now when it was a Thursday.

"Family thing," Maya blurted out. It was the first thing that popped into her head. Before Riley could get anything else out, Maya wrapped her in another quick hug and waved goodbye, walking fast down the hall. It felt horrible to lie to her best friend. She told Riley everything and she had since they were 5 years old. But Maya felt as though she had to keep this to herself. Especially the part about Riley. She was protecting both of them.

It felt like a whole mission to get ready for the party. Maya started from scratch by taking off all her school make-up and getting in the shower. She washed her hair, using her favorite coconut shampoo and conditioner. It was only 4:30 when she finished with her shower and Lucas wasn't coming over to pick her up until 8:30. Feeling a little more tired than she wanted to be for the party, she decided to take a little nap. It was nearly impossible for her fall asleep though, with all the excitement and adrenaline she was feeling from getting to hang out with Josh all night. By the time a knock at the door came, she was already up and in the bathroom, curling her hair. Confused, she went to the door. Lucas stood there in his nice blue shirt that showed off his arm muscles perfectly. There were 4 small buttons at the top of the shirt but the cowboy chose to leave them unbuttoned, leaving a bit of his chiseled chest to be looked at. Maya tore her eyes away from his noticeably attractive body features.

"You're early," she said finally looking up at his eyes. Those weren't much less attractive than the rest of his body. Damn.

"I wanted to bring you something," he smirked. In his hand, he held out a bag in front of Maya. Suspicious, Maya took the bag from him and looked inside. She pulled out a short black spaghetti strap dress. She held it up and looked at, then to Lucas wondering if he was being for real.

"Are you serious?"

"Trust me. With that dress, you will be able to get any college guy there that you want! Including Josh." Lucas let himself into the apartment and looked around like Maya did when she first went into Lucas's apartment. There wasn't much to see, really. There was mismatched furniture around the living room and little family photos all over the place. Most of them were old, dating back to when Maya was just a little girl.

"My room is the one with the paint on the door. I'll be in the bathroom getting ready," she said, breaking Lucas's concentration as he scrutinized the apartment.

He just nodded his head, but he didn't move. He was busy looking at a collection of small framed photos from Maya's childhood that sat on the shelf by the wall. Ignoring him, Maya went back to the bathroom to finish curling her hair, which she realized must look ridiculous only half done. After a few minutes, she did see Lucas's form walk past the bathroom door on his way to Maya's room. Just as she had told him, it was the room that had paint stains and little doodles in marker and paint all over it. Much to Lucas's surprise, her room was nothing like what he thought it would be, mess wise anyway. Paints were confined nicely to little containers and mason jars that sat around the room. Completed and in-progress paintings were lined neatly against all her walls. It made him smile to see so many works of art everywhere.

More than an hour had passed by and Lucas was still sitting on Maya's bed, flipping through pages of old sketch books he had gotten from her shelf. "Come on Shortstack! You know if your tits are out enough I promise you he won't give a damn what your hair looks like!" he yelled through the apartment.

In the bathroom, Maya scoffed at his crude statement, but was no longer surprised at his attitude. "You're so charming!" she yelled back. She looked worried at her reflection in the mirror. She stood in the tight dress Lucas had brought for her and had sworn by as the perfect dress to impress Josh in. She wouldn't have taken his advice if his previous advice about how to flirt hadn't worked out so well. Josh had never invited her to a party before, or even asked her to hang out outside of Matthew's get togethers. So he had to be onto something, even if all of his advice was disgusting and obscene.

"Will you come on?! I want to get-" Lucas began to shout. His words stopped when he saw the blonde come around the corner and stand in the doorway of her room. "Woah…" The cowboy's green eyes couldn't seem to move away from Maya. Her curled waves framed her face perfectly and of course that dress fit every curve of her body as if it was made specifically for her. Words tried so hard to come out of Lucas's mouth, any words, but none appeared.

Thinking the Texan was paying more attention to her too-much revealed body, Maya rolled her eyes and made her way over to the closet. "Alright enough staring! God you're the worst. This dress is too much," she whined. Her hands dug through her closet trying to find something else to wear but Lucas stopped her.

"No! You look hot. If the college boys don't satisfy you, I would be willing to step up to the plate," he winked, returning to his normal state from his previous speechlessness.

"Fine but I'm wearing a jacket," she ignored his statement. She pulled her favorite black leather jacket from its hanger and slid it on over the dress. She put on her black heeled booties and stood in front of Lucas. In the back of her head, she knew asking for his opinion on her appearance probably wasn't the best idea, but he was all she had right now. "Does this look alright?"

Overcoming his unexplainable speechlessness, he managed to get out a "You look good."

The subway ride to NYU was quiet. Lucas didn't have much to say and was much too busy thinking about the college girls he would be able to add to his little black book after tonight. Maya was busy freaking out internally about seeing Josh. She had texted him before going down into the subway station that they were on their way and would be there soon. She wasn't sure what to expect from tonight. But she didn't have much time to think about it because soon Lucas was tugging on her arm, letting her know that they had arrived at their stop. Once outside of the station, the chilly night air hit Maya's exposed legs and a shiver through her body.

"You good?" Lucas looked down and asked after seeing the small girl shiver.

"Oh yeah I'm good. I'm basically wearing nothing thanks to you, but I'm good," she complained. Lucas shook her off and laughed at the sass she could have more often than not. And of course, he made sure to get another look at how amazing her body looked in that dress. Suddenly, he caught himself staring not at her body but at her eyes, and admiring how the way she did her make-up made them look even brighter than usual. Quickly he snapped himself out of it and started to sike himself up for the party.

"Hey! I'm happy you came!" Josh greeted them after they walked into the party. He greeted Maya with a hug, and a wandering eye with her dress. "You look really nice," he said, rubbing his hand on the back of neck. Maya smiled with a kind of disbelieving smile. It made her annoyed that Lucas kept being right though. Lucas nudged her arm, no doubt bragging about being right about the dress.

"Josh this Lucas… my friend…type thing." She realized she really didn't know how to introduce Lucas. But calling him her friend left a little bit of a bad taste in her mouth.

"Do you guys want a drink or something? I could get you a beer?" Josh offered.

"Yeah man, thanks," Lucas said, eyes already scanning the room to see the girls. Maya just nodded with an excited smile, although she was really trying to hide how thrilled she was to be here with Josh.

"Alright I'll be right back," Josh said, excusing himself. He turned back quick and laid a hand on Maya's shoulder. She was almost too wrapped up in the ecstasy of his touch to notice his words. "Don't let my brother know I let you drink tonight," he winked. Maya laughed and nodded and watched him walk out of the crowded room and into the equally crowded kitchen.

Lucas made a confused glimpse down at Maya. "Who's his brother and why can't he know about the drinking?"

Maya suddenly realized she had never gotten the opportunity to let Lucas know that Josh was her best friend's uncle. Nervously she looked around the room. "Josh is kind of Riley's uncle."

"This whole thing just got a lot more interesting," Lucas beamed.

A playful smack went from Maya's hand to Lucas's arm. "Shut up!" Lucas started to walk away, noticing a dark haired girl across the room that caught his interest. Maya pulled him back by gripping tightly onto his strong arm. "Where are you going?"

"I was promised college girls," he smirked, looking over his shoulder at the dark haired girl who was eyeing him back.

"But I don't know what to do with Josh. What if I have a question or something?" This is something Lucas saw coming. Maya was clueless with this guy and he knew she would try latching onto Lucas. Normally, he would use that to get closer to Maya and therefore closer to sleeping with her. But right now, when he had to choose between hot college girls and Maya, he would pick the hot college girls.

"What am I supposed to do Shortstack? Stand next to you all night while you hang out Josh? Or do you want to pretend like we're in some lame movie where I watch everything from behind a plant and then talk into an ear piece to tell you how to respond?" Lucas joked. Maya didn't find it amusing since she knew he was partially mocking her. But she knew he was right. She had to be on her own. Josh suddenly came back and handed a beer to both Lucas and Maya. "Can I go now?" Lucas whispered to Maya.

"Yeah just go," Maya grunted. Lucas didn't want to be around her, which normally would make her glad. But right now it just made her nervous to be alone with Josh, especially in this atmosphere where she was so out of her element. Lucas wasted no time before walking away and meeting up with the girl across the room, who was quick to wrap her arms around the tall boy's torso.

It was just Maya and Josh now. At first, Maya was nervous as hell. She wasn't too sure why, though. They had been together alone before, several times. But this felt different. It felt real. To Maya, this could be their moment, the night they both remember as the night they started some whirlwind romance. To calm her nerves, she even said yes when one of Josh's friends offered her a shot. She wasn't one to drink much, barely ever. So of course, even that first shot mixed with the beer she finished quickly started hitting her and making her feel much calmer. Five more shots made their way down her throat until she was completely wasted. The conversation with Josh kind of faded out and became fuzzy towards the end, but from what she could remember, it was going good. She kept all of Lucas's flirting tips and tricks in her mind and used them.

Speaking of Lucas, she hadn't seen him around the party in a while. Unknown to her, he was in a back room, hooking up with some college sophomore girl. He didn't think much about Maya during the party. The later it got, the more he just wanted to soak up as much time at the party as he could.

"Thanks Ashley. That was amazing," he said to the girl as he buttoned up his pants.

"It's Allie."

"Oh sorry. It was good though, babe," he smiled. He gave no care as to what the girl did after. He exited the room, on the immediate look out for his next hook-up. But instead of finding a suitable college girl, his eyes landed on a certain blonde laying on a couch. He recognized her as a drunk Maya, holding a half empty bottle of vodka in her hand. "Maya?" he called as he approached her. She looked barely conscious as she laid on her side on the couch. He looked around to see more than a few older boys eyeing her in a way Lucas didn't like. Sure, he was all for hooking up with girl after girl, but only if that girl was sober enough to make her own decisions. In the state Maya was in, she couldn't make a conscious decision to save her life. Carefully, he pulled the bottle away from her hands. Her head lifted up and her eyes met with Lucas's. Those blue eyes of hers, usually so big and pretty, had a glassy overlay to them that gave away just how drunk she was. "Where's Josh?" Lucas asked.

"I haven't-haven't…seen h-him," Maya slurred. Laughter suddenly burst from her mouth, but Lucas didn't know why. "You-you're from Texas!" she laughed, dragging out the last word until it disappeared into her giddy laughter. Yep, she was way past drunk.

"Alright," Lucas smiled, pulling her to her feet. "Let's get you home." The small girl wobbled a bit in her boots so Lucas pulled her arm over his shoulders to help hold her up. She was incredibly light, only weighing probably 100 pounds, which Lucas could lift like it was nothing. He ignored the stares from people as he walked her through the hallway. Dragging her down the subway stairs didn't seem like a fun activity to Lucas, so he splurged on a cab. It wasn't the easiest to hail a cab with Maya draped over his side, but he managed.

She mumbled little words and incoherent phrases during the whole cab ride. Even the cab driver laughed at some of the things she was saying. At one point, she begged the older man to put her favorite song on on the radio so she could sing. But Lucas kept him from doing it. The minute they pulled onto her street, she slumped over, all of her weight on Lucas, as she breathed steadily. Lucas tried to wake her up, telling her they were almost to her home, but it was no use. He paid the cab driver once they pulled up in front of her apartment building and then gathered the small girl in his arms, lifting her up. Maya shuffled until she was snug and her arms wrapped tight around the tall boy's neck. He carried her up the stairs until they reached her apartment. He was quick to reach into her purse and grab her key. The apartment was dark and silent. Pretty normal, considering it was almost 2 in the morning. Lucas tried to be quiet, tip-toeing to the room he knew was Maya's with the painted door.

"My mom's not home. You don't have to be so careful," Maya mumbled into his neck. It seemed odd that her mother was not home yet, but he didn't feel like harping on it. He wanted to get Maya into bed and then get home to go to bed himself. He laid her carefully on her bed, reaching down to take off her boots. Maya moaned in discomfort as Lucas shifted her to pull her covers over her. With her eyes still firmly closed, Maya turned over and seemingly feel into an alcohol induced sleep. Lucas stood back and couldn't believe what a light-weight Maya turned out to be. Or maybe she had just drunken a lot? He thought back to the half gone bottle of vodka she held in her hands when he found her on the couch. It was unknown to him if she was the one who drank the missing half of the bottle, but whatever happened, he couldn't help but feel a little pissed at Josh for ditching her when she was so drunk. If one of those other guys had gotten to her before Lucas did, the ones who were looking at her and probably thinking of how to take advantage of her, then this would've been a whole lot worse. It made Lucas sick to his stomach to think about that. The rage building up inside of him thinking of some guy doing that to Maya in her state, any girl really, was only consoled by his eyes looking over at Maya as she slept. She was here in her own bed, safe and sound. And tonight wasn't a total bust for the Texan. He had hooked up with 2 hot girls, not that he remembered their names; not that he cared to. He looked at his phone and saw the time as 1:41AM. School was in just 6 hours. He rose from the edge of the bed he had been sitting on, took one last look at Maya, and left the apartment, making sure to lock the door on his way out.

As he walked down the street to the subway station, he couldn't help but think about the intoxicating scent of coconut that he inhaled from Maya's hair earlier when he was carrying her upstairs. He couldn't remember the names of the girl's he had hooked up with, but nothing in his head was more prominent than the coconut smelling mess of blonde hair that had blown threw his face.

 **A/N: I think Lucas taking care of drunk Maya is one of my favorites lol Even when he might be a little reluctant. Next chapter will be up soon!**

 **Thank you as always for reading! Good to know there are still other people like me who still continue to read Lucaya fics even tho the show is over:)**


	8. Every Girl Is Obtainable to Me

**A/N: Next chapter! There is some cute Lucaya in this chapter and a little Lucas/Zay talk. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 8: "Every Girl Is Obtainable to Me"

The lights in the hallway were way too bright. It felt like everyone was moving too fast and practically shouting as they spoke to each other in the halls. Maya had her long hair pulled into a loose top-knot on the top of her head because she couldn't be bothered to do it when she forced herself to roll out of bed. The sound of her blaring alarm clock was almost enough to make her rip her own head off. Getting out of bed made the room spin and getting to the bathroom was even worse. She swore she could feel the planet move beneath her feet. She felt like vomiting. She was beyond surprised that she didn't. The only even slightest remedy she found was standing under the chilled water as it hit her in the shower.

The previous night was a little bit of a blur to her. Everything was clear up until she took that first shot with Josh and his friends. But she was sure she could just barely remember at least a few more shots in there somewhere. How she got home and where everything ended with Josh was a total mystery to her. Now she walked through the school halls towards her locker with hazy memories running through her head, trying to piece together what happened the night before.

She turned a corner and saw Riley at the end of it, bouncing around excitedly talking to Farkle. The blonde quickly turned back before being spotted. As much as she hated it, she was determined to avoid Riley today. With this other-worldly hangover she had, the last thing she needed was to listen to Riley's loud voice. It's not like she could tell her to quiet down because she was hungover. All that would do is cause Riley to scream at her even more in disappointment. Maya found it hard to focus on anything other than the pounding headache she had right now. She dug a water bottle out of her purse and chugged half of it down, hoping it would ail her even a little bit.

"Hey there drunkie," she heard a voice. Her eyes went up to reveal Lucas leaning against her locker. Not the face she wanted to see right now. And definitely not the voice she wanted to hear. She would rather go listen to Riley berate her for drinking too much. Unfortunately she had to go to her locker. Squinted blue eyes glared at him for teasing her as Maya walked up to her locker and spun in her combination. "How you feeling?" Lucas smiled, clearly already knowing the answer.

"I feel like a tree fell on me or something. I'm never drinking again," Maya moaned, leaning her head against her locker and closing her eyes.

"Well I sure had a good night. Hot college girls. Drunk Shortstack. So much entertainment," Lucas laughed. A glare shot up at Lucas from the small girl.

"I'm so glad you had such a nice time. I, however, would love it if you would just leave me alone for the rest of the day." Maya shut her locker slowly, careful not to slam it and agitate her headache any further.

"So you're not even going to thank me for dragging your drunk ass home?" Lucas called out as Maya started to walk away. She made a sharp turn when she heard him say that though. "Because doing that was not part of the deal." Maya had a hard time believing that it was Lucas who had made sure she got home.

"You took me home last night?"

"Yes. It's not like Joshua was going to do it, wherever the hell he was when you decided to pass out on the couch," he teased.

A wave of embarrassment suddenly washed over Maya. Truthfully, she was embarrassed by this whole thing much earlier, like that morning when she woke up. But she passed out at the party? Lucas had to take her home? Oh god she felt humiliated. No way would Josh think of her as anything other than some dumb kid now! She couldn't even hold her own at some dumb college party. She buried her head in her hands and let out a long moan.

"Oh my god!" she drowned out into her hands.

"I know I keep saying I want to get you in bed but this isn't exactly what I meant," Lucas winked. Maya delivered another glare his way. She could actually hit him, right here and now. If she wasn't so sick from her hangover, she knew she would be screaming and hitting the annoying boy upside the head for teasing her about the night before. Lucas knew it too. And that was part of the reason for him doing it. He saw very little repercussions for teasing the girl. He found it kind of cute when she glared up at him, especially when she was so tiny and only about 5 feet tall. It was actually kind of adorable.

"Look thank you for taking me home Lucas. You didn't have to do that," Maya thanked him sincerely. She was truly grateful that the Texan had taken her home and gotten her there safely. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt this overpowering sureness that he didn't try to feel her up in her unconscious state, but she just got the vibe that he wasn't that type of guy. She thought maybe Zay had mentioned that to her once, just to let her know that even Lucas had limits. Lucas gave her a brief look of sincerity but quickly wiped it away to replace it with his signature smirk.

"No worries Shortstack. And if you ever need anybody to get you safely in bed again," he suggested, stepping closer to Maya and pushing a strand of hair that had broken loose from her bun behind her ear, "just let me know."

"You know what I take my thank you back," Maya whispered, stepping away from Lucas's hands; they felt too good touching her.

"Oh come on it was one joke!" Lucas defended as he laughed. "I even splurged on a cab to get you home." He decided against bringing up the group of guys at the party who looked like they wanted nothing more than to ignore how drunk she was and fuck her. He would just get too angry thinking about it and Maya would feel even more embarrassed. So instead, he would never admit it, but he was trying to make her laugh. Or at least smile. She looked so miserable and she wasn't as fun to pick on when she was too upset (and hungover) to pick back. "The cab driver had a fun time listening to all your witty jokes. I didn't think they were all gems but you got some good puns in." He stopped when he saw the smallest hint of a smile appear on her lips. "I was able to stop you from belting out a drunken Alicia Keys melody though, so rain-check on that."

Finally Maya gave in and chuckled a little bit. She would be forever confused about why Lucas was being so nice in this moment, but she wouldn't question it. "Thank you Lucas," she smiled, enunciating every word perfectly. "Are you happy now?"

The cowboy just nodded, then returned to his normal self. "Not as happy as I was last night," he winked. "But yeah I'm happy."

"Maya!"

The eye contact was broken between the two blondes by the sound of Maya's name being called, a little too loudly for Maya at the moment. They both turned their heads to see Josh walking right up to them.

"Josh? What are you doing here?" Maya asked meeting him in the middle of the hallway. Lucas stood firmly against the lockers with his eyes locked on the interaction.

"Maya I'm so sorry about last night! I drank a little too much and got a little irresponsible," Josh began explaining. Maya felt bad for letting him apologize for anything since she didn't really remember it anyway. "I shouldn't have-"

"Josh you do not have to apologize!" she said, placing a hand on his arm. The boy started to shake his head, clearly feeling guilty still, but Maya wouldn't have it. "Honestly I don't even remember what happened last night." Her face turned kind of red with that last response.

"You don't remember anything?" Josh asked surprised.

"Not much."

Josh's hand ran through his hair. Maya could still see the faint view of a guilty look in his eyes. "Maya I still feel like I should apologize. I left you by yourself and I knew you were drinking too much. I shouldn't have done that. And I didn't even make sure you got home ok! How did you get home?"

"Lucas got me there. Not that I remember," Maya tried to laugh it off to release some of the tension.

"Well I'm glad. But I invited you to the party and I should have been the one to take you home. So let me make it up to you," he smiled. The smile on Maya's face grew about 10 sizes just hearing Josh offer to make it up to her. "I have a study group tomorrow and I'm sure you want to do nothing but lay down today," he laughed. Maya could think of one thing she wanted to do more, throwing up sounded nice. But she just laughed along with Josh. "But Sunday, how about I take you to Coney Island? I know you really liked going there with Riley when you two were little."

It was true. Going to Coney Island with the Matthew's clan was a childhood favorite of Maya's. It surprised her to see Josh remembered that. He had gone with them all a few times but she didn't realize her excitement over being there was that evident. She couldn't even find the words to answer. Instead she settled for nodding her head with an enthusiastic smile.

"Alright. Then it's a date," Josh nodded. The word 'date' swirled around in Maya's head so fast that she felt like she couldn't breathe. This was all she ever wanted. A date with Josh Matthews. It only took her like 7 years but she was so absorbed in this moment. "I'll let you get to class. But I'll see you on Sunday." Just before walking away entirely, Maya's heart eyes glued to him. He looked up to Lucas who was still watching enjoyably. "Thanks for getting her home last night man!"

Maya watched his figure glide away down the hall and disappear. The goofy smile was still on her face as Lucas stood next to her.

"He asked me on a date. A real date!" Maya revealed, unable to hold the news in.

"So coaching session after school?" Lucas asked. After last night, he felt like he would need to put in a little extra work with Maya, especially with her getting closer to Josh. There was also something in his brain that made him think he wanted Maya even more, but he couldn't explain why.

Blonde hair whipped around to look at Lucas. Her little cheeky grin was aimed at him, but he couldn't read it. "You know what? I think I'm good on my own with this one Huckleberry," she grinned.

She strided right past him and down the hall, seeming to be helped a bit with the hangover that made her feel like she was dying just a few minutes ago. She was slipping through his fingers. Maybe he was a little too good at helping her get the college boy.

"Problem?" Zay's voice rang.

"It's just Maya," Lucas grunted, walking down the hall towards class.

"Aw are things going a little too well with Josh for your liking?" Zay teased. "I told you man, Maya's just not the kind of girl that you can get."

Lucas sneered at his best friend. Nothing had ever made him as frustrated as this situation with Maya. And Zay wasn't making it any easy with his constant teasing. Zay couldn't see Maya ever getting with Lucas. But it had become his main source of entertainment to see Lucas try and this whole Josh bit was, what Zay felt, a poor attempt at pulling Maya closer. Now it was having the opposite effect.

"Are you jealous?" Zay smirked.

"No! But I had her pulled in with that Josh thing and if she's deciding she doesn't need my help with that anymore, then I don't have an in," Lucas complained. "I'm going to have to get creative." Not even Lucas knew what he meant by that. Maya wasn't like the normal girls he normally fucked. He could get any girl he wanted, with a snap of his fingers. But this girl, this little blonde fireball, was a challenge. He had to think of a way for Maya specifically that would get her to realize how much she wanted him.

"Dude why can't you just admit that not every girl is obtainable for you and move onto one of the other dozens of girls who would love to sleep with you?" Zay asked. It was a genuine question.

"Because every girl _is_ obtainable for me. You were onto something when you said that the chase was entertaining for me. It's like this new challenge and then after, when I get to sleep with her, all this hard work will be worth it."

A little smirk grew wider on Lucas's face, but now even Zay understood why Maya wanted to vomit every time she spoke to him. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Lucas answered, "but I promise you I'm getting blondie in bed if it is the last thing I do."

 **A/N: An intro to Lucas trying to make Maya feel better;) Next chapter is one of my favorites and has some good comforting!Lucaya! I'll try to update soon! Thanks for reading so much you guys. I look forward to reading all your sweet words in the reviews about how you're liking the story so much:)**


	9. Broken Plates

**A/N: You guys so amazing with the reviews from the last chapter that I wanted to get this up for you! This is one of favorite chapters in the story so enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 9: "Broken Plates"

To: Shortstack

 _You still on your date?"_

From: Shortstack

 _Yeah… why?_

To: Shortstack

 _Come over to my place after._

It was the Sunday of Maya's date. Lucas hadn't talked to the blonde all weekend, but he kept himself busy by plotting. Plotting ways to get Maya to come back to him. He had come up short of ideas he would consider 'good.' This was just so out of his normal element. If Maya was any other girl, he would have slept with her by now. He was so confused on what he had to do. And without this Josh thing to use for his benefit, Maya gave him little time of day. Finally, after exhausting all his other ideas and dismissing them as stupid, he figured he would return to basics. For sure something went wrong on Maya's date. After all, Josh was a college guy. And Maya was hot and fun to talk to and funny as hell and talented… wait what? Lucas found himself doing that a lot more during the past couple of days. Maya seemed to invade his brain and he couldn't think of many things he didn't like about the girl. He dismissed it as nothing more than needing to fuck her; it was becoming a medical issue. He needed to get his brain right.

Lucas was walking back to his room from the kitchen with a glass of root beer in his hand when he heard sharp knocks at the door. As soon as he opened it, Maya's bright eyes appeared.

"You got my message?" Lucas smirked.

"Why else would I be here Sundance?" Maya grumbled. Lucas moved aside so Maya could step into the apartment. She had clearly continued to take his advice that day because she was wearing a cropped black halter under her sweater. It was a toned down version of something Lucas would have picked out for her to wear today.

"You could have realized you really do want me," Lucas smiled, shutting the door.

"Cute," Maya was unamused. "Now why did you want me to come over?" She was completely confused when he had asked her earlier via text to come over after her date with Josh. But she was having too much fun at the time to wonder. But now, standing in front of him, she had no idea what he wanted. Unless he was calling in the favor they agreed she would owe him. That was the only explanation she could come up with on her subway ride to his place.

"I wanted to know how your date went," Lucas answered, casually. His new plan? As much friendly conversation as he could handle. Maybe she would respond positively to him caring and shit.

Maya's eyes squinted in disbelief. She didn't believe for a second that he cared. "That is so not why you wanted me to come over," she laughed. Lucas gave his own disbelieving look back at the tiny girl.

"Why would-"

"Is that Maya?!" Mrs. Friar yelled from the kitchen. Lucas knew it was a risk to invite Maya over when his mom was home, but he was hoping his mom would be cool.

"Yeah mom!" Lucas shouted back, rubbing a nervous hand to the back of his neck.

Mrs. Friar appeared from the kitchen, her short blonde hair up in a messy bun in the back of her head. Her eyes lit up to see Maya standing there in the living room. "Hi Maya honey!" she said elated. She wasn't wearing anything fancy, just a white t-shirt and some ripped up jeans that if Maya's being honest, she really wanted to borrow.

"Hi Mrs. Friar," Maya smiled back. There was something about Mrs. Friar that made it so easy to talk to her. She spoke to everyone as if she had known them for years. Maya had to take a second to remember she had only met her once before for a few minutes.

"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Friar asked, already wrapping Maya in a tight hug. Maya was so confused on how asshole Lucas was related to this woman.

"Lucas just wanted to talk to me about something."

"Well why don't you stay for dinner honey?" Lucas motioned to his mom behind Maya's back to quit what she was doing or take it back. This was not part of Lucas's plan. Not even close.

Of course his mom ignored his silent pleas. Maya made a little glance over her shoulder at Lucas as she spoke. "Oh I doubt Lucas would like that." She saw him run a hand over his face and drag it down his neck. It was tempting though. Maya had practically inhaled the bowl of chili Lucas's mom had given her the last time they met. It was amazing! Mrs. Friar wasn't joking when she said she was an amazing cook. The aroma of sausage made its way into the blonde's nostrils and she wanted to say yes so bad.

"Forget him," Mrs. Friar insisted, ignoring the annoyed look on her son's face. "I would like it. Please stay?"

"I wouldn't want to intrude-" Maya started but was cut off by the excited woman.

"Nonsense! You are staying for dinner missy! I insist!" The smile on the Texas woman's face was a little hard to say no to.

Maya breathed out a deep sigh. Honestly, it would be nice to eat a hot home cooked meal instead of grabbing something on the way home. Maya's mom worked late tonight. Usually she would bring Maya a sandwich or something but that wouldn't be for hours, probably not even until past when Maya went to bed. And it would be a crime to pass up whatever she was smelling from the kitchen.

"Ok," Maya sighed happily.

"And you can meet Lucas's father!" Mrs. Friar said after giving Maya one more hug out of delight.

Lucas's head shot up from its lowered position. Meeting his mom was one thing, but his dad was a complete other thing. This was not something Lucas was willing to let happen; and that was for a whole other list of reasons. "Dad's having dinner with us?" He couldn't stop a tone of worry from coming out of his voice. Lucky for him, no one else noticed.

"Yeah it's going to be the 4 of us," his mom answered, still looking at Maya. The woman wrapped her arm around Maya's shoulder and started leading her to the kitchen with the intension of showing her what was being cooked. Maya followed happily, eager to see what smelled so damn good. "Now I hope you like cornbread because I make some of the best cornbread to come out of Texas!"

Lucas watches the two women walk out of the room and into the kitchen. His dad is coming. His dad is going to meet Maya. Maya's going to meet his dad. Honestly he's not sure which of those two thoughts is worse. Lucas sulks off to his room, sitting on the bed and hanging his head in his hands. Him and his dad were not very close. In fact, they barely even got along. And despite what anybody might think, having Maya there wouldn't ease any of the tension. An angry fist flew around hit the wall behind the bed. Steam felt like it was coming out of his ears and he didn't know how to calm down.

"Your mom is so sweet! What happened to you?" Maya smirked, coming into the room. She held a piece of cornbread in her hand and was picking pieces off eagerly, popping them into her mouth. Not that he could explain it, but Lucas suddenly felt a calmness run through him.

Lucas's eyes followed the small blonde while she went to sit on the hamper like she had done last time she came over. "People say I take after my dad." It was honest. He had the same anger, the same crappy attitude; but mostly the same anger.

"Oh then I can't wait to meet him later," Maya said. She faked a gag by sticking her finger in her mouth. Lucas laughed. Little did she know, she was completely right. But Lucas wouldn't tell her that. Maya's expression changed to a serious one as she finished the cornbread piece in her hands. She crumpled up the napkin and threw it in the wastebasket next to the bed. "Now seriously why did you want me to come over because I know it wasn't to ask how my date went?"

Well it sure as hell wasn't to get her to stay for dinner and meet Lucas's dad. "Why is that hard to believe?" Lucas smiled.

Besides this whole 'dinner with his dad' fiasco, he could still play the part of the caring friend. This girl was beginning to be a lot of work.

"Why do you care?"

"I want to know how my project is going," he answered quickly. It was a sure fire to annoy Maya, but he liked seeing her fired up. She flipped her long hair over her head and glared at the boy.

"I am not your project Huckleberry," she barked. Maya had thought about ignoring his text to come over. Everything went well with Josh and she didn't feel like she needed to put up with Lucas anymore for advice. But something pulled her here. Not even she could really put a finger on what it was.

"Whatever. Just tell me how it went," Lucas pressed.

"It was good. He wants to go out again, which is surprising… this is the most interest he's ever shown," Maya revealed.

Lucas wasn't surprised, Maya was young and Josh had all those college girls that he could focus on. But then again, if Lucas was Josh, he would've jumped on that by now. That's when a little thought found its way into his mind. A slick smile appeared on his lips as he stared at Maya. She was looking down at her fingers in her crossed lap as they twirled around each other.

"Now he's going to try to get you in bed," he told her. Her head popped up with disgusted eyes.

"Ew!" she groaned. Lucas just laughed. He was back in. No way she wouldn't want some kind of help now. "Why would you say that?"

"Maya he's a guy- no, scratch that. He is a college guy! Everything he thinks about is sex," Lucas explained.

Maya couldn't help but think about what bullshit he was sprouting. "No you're just assuming every guy out there is as disgusting as you are," she smirked.

Lucas could see the little wheels in her head turning, processing what he had just told her. Sure, she would admit she was thinking about it, but this was Lucas. Everything had to do with sex.

"Did you ever think that maybe you just have no idea what a real relationship is? It's not about sex you know," Maya commented. It wasn't a response that Lucas was expecting, but he didn't falter.

"Excuse me Shortstack but I know about a real relationship," Lucas said with an arched eyebrow.

On top of the hamper, Maya leaned in closer to Lucas, giving direct eye contact. "Name one girl who you actually had a real relationship with?"

"I can't," Lucas was forced to admit after thinking for a moment.

"Point proven."

"You know the only reason I've never had a real relationship with a girl is because I've never met one who was worth it," he said pointedly.

Maya rolled her eyes, unbelieving at what an ass Lucas could be. Although at this point in their relationship, if you wanted to call it that, which Maya really didn't, she wasn't sure why she still found his 'jerk-ness' so surprising.

"So you're telling me out of all the girls you've known in your whole life, none of them were good for anything other than fucking?"

"Pretty much."

"That's very nice. That's real mature," Maya shook her head. "What do girls see in you?"

This Lucas had an answer for. "My hair. My arms. My eyes. Probably these," he said. Much to Maya's dismay, Lucas proceeded to lift up his shirt and reveal the abs she couldn't resist but drool over.

A knock at the door revealed Lucas's mom to announce that his dad was home and dinner would be starting. Maya jumped up, happy to finally get to enjoy a big plate of Mrs. Friar's cooking. Lucas, however, stayed on the bed, nervous about how this dinner would go. It wasn't often that his dad was able to join them for dinner, since he stayed late at work more often than not. But even when he was home for dinner, Lucas and he were either completely silent towards each other or jumping down each other's throats. And that was when it was just Lucas and his parents. He never had anyone over for dinner. Even Zay had only been over for dinner a handful of times in their long friendship. But Lucas was almost always able to make sure his dad wouldn't be there.

Maya walked into the living room to see Mrs. Friar finishing up setting the table. A man, presumably Mr. Friar, stepped out of the kitchen, still donned in his nice suit and green tie. His stern face was the total opposite of Mrs. Friar. His, instead, had lines in his forehead and a dead look in his eyes. They were the same green eyes Lucas had, but not nearly as much light. He was handsome, if this was your sort of taste and it was easy to see that Lucas got his good looks from both his parents, but he was intimidating in a way that Lucas and his mom weren't. Maya was almost afraid to approach him, but figured he was the kind of man to react better if she introduced herself. She opened her mouth to do it, but Mrs. Friar beat her to it.

"Honey this is Lucas's friend Maya. Maya this is Lucas's father," she said casually. Maya wondered if she knew how intimidating her husband was.

"Hi Mr. Friar," Maya smiled. Mr. Friar extended his hand and smiled back. The smile wasn't as warm as the other two members of the household but it was better than when he didn't smile. Maya shook his hand and let the man point her to a seat.

The conversation during the dinner was… well it was awkward if anyone had to pick a word. Maya found it almost impossible to not notice that Lucas and his dad were barely even looking at each other, much less speaking to each other. Mrs. Friar seemed to be oblivious to it all and led a conversation with Maya and Mr. Friar, though the older man wasn't saying much back. It was mostly a series of grunts and occasional responses. And Maya found the atmosphere too painful to reply to most sentences. Lucas pushed the food on his plate around, nodded every so often and replying to his mom when she asked him a question. So it became mostly his mom talking over the table. Maya wasn't sure if Mrs. Friar knew he husband was such an intimidating man. Was he like that when they met and got married? Was he different when it was just the two of them? The way the blonde woman talked to him, and even teased him on occasion, made it seem like she didn't see him as the frightening man that Maya sat across from at the table now.

The plate in front of Maya was empty, just a couple heads of broccoli sitting on the side. Everyone was sitting in silence, which both Maya and Lucas found uncomfortable as hell. "How has school been going honey?" Mrs. Friar's voice sounded through the haunting silence. Lucas only looked up from his empty plate for a second and then glanced back down, letting his fork scrape against the plate.

"It's been alright," he responded with little emotion.

"What does 'alright' mean Lucas?" his dad's voice suddenly boomed. Lucas didn't bother making eye contact with him.

"It means alright dad. I'm focusing on baseball," he said back. Maya could feel the argument building up. Apparently, Mrs. Friar did too because she shuffled in her seat, her eyes glancing back and forth between her husband and her son.

"Baseball! Lucas baseball isn't going to help you succeed in life!" his dad grumbled. Maya could practically feel the angry heat from Lucas as he sat next to her. "You need to focus on your studies!"

"Honey maybe this isn't the time to have this conversation," Mrs. Friar whispered, nudging her head at Maya.

Maya pretended not to notice, but she didn't have any food on her plate to pretend to be too busy eating. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucas, an anger swirling in his eyes. She had never seen his beautiful eyes look so dark before. They were becoming reminisant of his father's.

"Why? I think our son's friends should know what a disappointment he is. I want whatever expectations they have of him to be lowered," the man said, looking down at his plate.

Everything after that moved so fast. Maya's ears rang when the sound of a shattering plate echoed through the apartment. She looked over to see the tight fists Lucas held in his hands. His plate laid in pieces on the floor next to him. He tried to keep his anger under control, but his father knew how to push his buttons and tip him over the edge. It wasn't easy to swallow down sometimes.

"Lucas!" his mom yelled.

There wasn't much time for anything else to be said before Lucas lifted from his seat in a hurry. His feet shuffled and stomped on the carpet until he reached his room, slamming the door behind him. The table had a thick air over it. Maya couldn't help but feel like she had felt this same feeling. Probably when she was a kid and the air in her household always felt like this, with her parents always screaming at each other. Lucas's mom started to move from her seat, presumably to clean the broken dish and scattered food on the floor. Her husband reached his hand out and gently grabbed her waist.

"Let the ungrateful brat clean it up," he said with a little anger in his voice. It became a little evident to Maya that this was something that happened a lot in this house. She wouldn't have guessed before now. But this is what Lucas lived with. She had never felt bad for him until now, but she knew what this kind of environment felt like. And she knew, sadly, what it was like to be sitting in your room all alone after some kind of family throw down.

She looked up at Mrs. Friar, but the woman was already looking at her. The sadness in her eyes was enough to make Maya cry. She would bet money that the kind woman just wanted one night where this didn't happen, especially not in front of Maya. "I'm going to go-" Maya stuttered, pointing in the direction of Lucas's room. Mrs. Friar understood and nodded her head. She could hear whispered grumbles between both of Lucas's parent when she left their presence but she didn't try to listen. Once she was in front of the boy's bedroom door, she stood there for a second, trying to figure out what to say. She wasn't sure what version of Lucas she would walk in on. It could be the angry one she had just got a glimpse of or the crude, disgusting Lucas she had come to know. Or maybe it would be a whole new version, one that was called a 'disappointment' by his dad pretty often; a real, sad version of Lucas Friar. Finally she plucks up the courage to knock on the door lightly and open it without waiting for an invite. Just her head poked into the room to see Lucas sitting on the edge of the bed, head in his hands. "Knock knock." She said playfully, but still low and careful.

"Hey," he answered while lifting his head up. Maya came into the room fully and shut the door. But she didn't move. She wasn't sure how comfortable they could both be right now if she came closer.

"Your dad is… um-"

"An asshole?" Lucas cut her off to answer for her.

"I was going to say a piece of work… but," she mumbled. The room didn't feel heavy or forced. Maya felt comfortable moving a little closer to Lucas with tiny footsteps. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." There was no emotion as he answered, but he ran a frustrated hand threw his hair.

Maya's small feet brought her much closer to the bed before she even realized it was happening. She crawled onto the bed next to the Texas boy. She folded her feet under her and faced him. Unknown to Maya, and not understood by Lucas, he liked her presence. He still didn't understand this effect she had on him when he felt angry or upset, but he wouldn't question it. No one else had quite that effect, so he would just take it without question.

"You sure?" Maya asked. "I'm a really good listener." She had spent most of her life listening to Riley like a good friend and not talking about her problems much. As much as Maya loved Riley, Riley wouldn't understand a lot of the problems or feelings she had. So she just grew as a listener. "Or we don't even have to talk. I could just sit here with you… so you're not alone."

Lucas looked up at her. But he just felt like what Maya typically feels with Riley. "You wouldn't understand Maya. You have a good family."

Maya didn't know how to respond. "What makes you think I have a good family?" she asked, her eyebrow arched in confusion.

"I've seen you with Riley's dad and even with her mom at Topanga's-"

"That's Riley's family!" she blurted out. God how she wished she had a family like Riley's. They practically raised her with her own mom always at work. But she knew more about having a broken family than Lucas even knew. "I have half a family at best."

Lucas noticed her usually bright eyes lose some light as she looked down at her hands. "What do you mean?"

"You're not the only one with shitty dad," Maya spoke, not looking up at him. Before she really knew what was happening, she was telling him something she had only ever told Riley and Farkle. "My dad left when I was 4 or 5. He wasn't a good guy. At least that's what my mom says. I barely even remember him," Maya revealed, still not making eye contact with the bewildered boy next to her.

The blonde boy wouldn't have guessed. He suddenly felt like such an ass for assuming so many things about her family life when, in reality, she had it worse than him. Not often did Lucas actually feel like an ass when he was being one. But he did now, looking over at the sad girl, he felt like a dick for complaining. "So I guess I should just feel lucky my dad is still here?" he questioned.

Maya's head shot up and her sad eyes met Lucas's sad ones. "No I didn't say that. We both have a crap dad. Just mine left and yours stayed," she assured him. Truthfully, neither could decide which was worse. "There's not a winner here."

"I just have all this built up anger at him. And I take it out on everyone else!" It wasn't something he usually liked to talk about, but Maya was a calm to him.

"I think you take it out on yourself."

"He takes it out on me," Lucas replied, pointing a heavy finger out the door.

Maya suddenly remembered his words from earlier that day, when Lucas swore people thought he was more like his dad. As much as she could see, she didn't buy it. "Who says you take after him?"

"A lot of people," Lucas let out a small chuckle, thinking about it.

"Well they're wrong. You're not like your dad," Maya smiled. It was enough to make Lucas smile right back at the blonde. Not many things were able to make him smile after a fight with his dad.

"Did you just give me a compliment?" Lucas joked.

"Shut up!" Maya laughed, nudging his arm with her tiny elbow.

"Seriously the mood's already set, we could just get right to the sex part-"

Maya lightly pushed him away from her, joking a bit. "Shut it Huckleberry!" she said, her finger pointed in his face. A silence fell over them. Both the teens were surprised to find that it was a comfortable silence. They were each the last person they ever expected to be comfortable with, but they were. Maya jumped up from her seat and stood in front of Lucas. "Come on let's go!"

"Let's go where?" Lucas laughed.

"Well since you had your little temper tantrum," Maya spoke, careful to use a joking tone so he didn't get offended, "I didn't get dessert. So you're going to take me to get ice cream."

Lucas found it funny. He just had an explosive fight with his dad and now Maya wanted to go get ice cream with him, even after she saw him literally break a plate in front of her eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Do you want to stay here with your dad?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, knowing that was the last thing he wanted to do. It didn't take much more than a 5 second silence for Lucas to realize it, too.

"So ice cream?"

 **A/N: Lucaya development! Kind of a weird chapter to post on father's day with Lucas's dad being such an ass in this particular story but whatever lol So from now on emotional Lucaya development is very prominent, particularly in the next chapter;)**

 **Review review review! They make my day to read them and it makes feel like writing so much more! Also I've been really trying to write my next multi chapter… it's going ok lol Thanks for reading guys!**


	10. Just Lay Down

**A/N: Just a quick update! Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 10: "Just Lay Down"

Maya forced Lucas to take her to some ice cream shop in the village after dinner the night before. Truth is, he didn't mind. It wasn't often he had another person to really take his mind off his dad after a fight. Sometimes he would call a girl and ask to come over or ask her to meet him somewhere. But that was always a short distraction. Somehow, the night before, while Maya enjoyed her cookie dough ice cream, she was able to keep Lucas's mind off of what he was going home to. It wasn't until after he walked her all the way home and dropped her off at the doorstep of her building that he realized he was losing sight of his mission. He hadn't tried to make a move on her the whole time they were out. That was very 'un-Lucas' of him. He needed to refocus.

He had just stepped out of his first period class when his best friend ran up beside him. "I heard the blonde beauty had dinner at your place last night?" he smirked, skipping a hello entirely.

Lucas looked at him confused. "Where would you possibly hear that?" Maybe Maya had told him?

"Your mom was on the phone with my mom last night about some blonde girl who joined you for dinner. And since you would never let a girl besides that girl even meet your mom, much less have dinner with her, I assumed it was Maya," he explained. Figures his own mom gave him away. Mrs. Friar didn't bother hiding her adoration of the tiny blonde. Even last night while Lucas cleaned up the broken mess on the floor after getting home from ice cream, his mom raved about Maya and how nice she was. He didn't say much back to her, still wanting to refocus on his original goal with her. But inside his head, he couldn't stop himself from knowing that he agreed with most of the things she said.

"Congratulations. Do you want a treat for figuring it out, man?" Lucas asked sarcastically.

"What is it with this girl?" Zay said. They had just arrived at Lucas's locker and he wasted no time beginning to spin in his combination while Zay leaned against the lockers.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked, but he knew exactly what his friend meant.

Zay's eyes narrowed, trying to read beneath his best friend's surface. "You spend your whole life not letting any girl meet your mom and now all of a sudden Maya's at your place for dinner? And she met your dad!" he shouted. That was probably the most surprising thing for Zay. "If it were up to you, I wouldn't have even ever met you dad!"

"If it were up to me, I would have never met my dad."

"Exactly! So why is Maya so special?" Zay asked with wild eyes. If Lucas was being honest, he was wondering that exact same thing.

"She's not 'special.' And look I didn't know my dad was going to be home! My dad's home for dinner like one night a week and it had to be last night. And it's not like I invited her. My mom asked Maya to stay. What was I supposed to do? Shove her out the door and forbid her from staying?" Lucas rambled. The night before wasn't planned at all. It ended alright, better than he could've ever guessed but he didn't need Zay knowing that.

Zay let out a laugh. "If it were any other girl besides Maya, then yeah I'm pretty sure that's actually exactly what you would have done." Both boys knew that statement was 100 percent true. He had never even liked girls to come over before, unless he knew for sure that his mom and dad wouldn't be home. And then he would get the girl out right after sex with a promise to call her, which of course he never did, unless it was to ask her for round 2 of sex.

"Zay what's it always about?" Lucas smirked.

"For you? Sex."

"Exactly. And this is no different," he promised. Only, it was different. He just couldn't figure out why.

Zay looked unbelieving. He had never seen Lucas work this hard before to get a girl, not that any girl ever made him work this hard. But it was weird to see and Zay couldn't help but get the vibe that this was different, something _more_ even. "You're jumping through a lot of hoops just to get her in bed. Especially when every other girl in this school would literally kill a person to be in that spot."

"You were really on to something with this idea of the 'chase.' And if bringing her home and playing the 'meet the parents' game is what I have to do, then so be it," Lucas said as if he actually believed it. Maybe in a way he did believe that. It didn't sound bad and it seemed to be working on the small blonde he wanted so badly.

"And you're sure this is just about sex?"

"Positive," he ensured, shutting his locker. "Look I'm supposed to be able to get any girl I want right? Especially one as hot as her," he grinned.

Not quite believing this was his best friend, Zay shook his head, but then nodded to answer the question. "Yeah I think that's pretty much the moto you live on."

"Alright. And I'm going to get Maya Hart to fuck me. She's going to want me, whether she knows it or not." Lucas needed to hear it as much as he thought Zay did. He needed to remind himself of his original intent when it comes to Maya, because lately he seems to just miss looking into her blue ocean eyes, rather than thinking about how good her good would feel under his.

"Huckleberry!"

He didn't need to turn around, there was only one person in the world that called him that. It amused him. But he turned anyway. He saw those wild curls of blonde come marching down the hallway right towards him. It was crazy how beautiful she was. Did she even know? Lucas knew. He shook the thought out of his head and tried to focus on the little bit of cleavage that was revealed from her shirt.

"Speak of the devil," he grinned to Zay. "What's up Shortstack?" he spoke when the girl was close enough the hear him.

"I have a question for you," she said in a serious tone, looking him square in the eyes.

"About?" he asked, intrigued. He hoped that it wasn't about his dad or his family. Zay didn't need to know that they had opened up to each other about such a sensitive topic.

"Josh."

"Ask away," Lucas smiled.

"Ok I-" she started. Her words stopped and she glanced over to Zay who was still standing next to Lucas. His gaze was on Maya, as if he was going to try to listen. Lucas followed in Maya's gaze. The boy looked between the two blondes, both of who had their eyebrows raised to question his presence.

He threw his hands up in surrender. "Alright. I know when I'm not wanted," he grunted.

"You never know when you're not wanted," Lucas smirked sarcastically.

"Ok that was rude," he frowned. Maya laughed, watching him walk away.

"Bye Zay!" she called after him before turning her attention back to Lucas.

"Your question about Josh?" Lucas continued.

Maya took a deep breath, as if the question was a hard one to ask. Lucas got a tiny kick out of seeing her so nervous. "It's about that thing you mentioned last night," she finally spoke.

Way to be vague Maya. "Thing?" Lucas asked.

"You know… the thing," she said quietly, looking around to make sure no one was in close enough proximity to hear their conversation. Lucas still had no idea what they were talking about. "The s-e-x thing," she said in a low whisper.

Lucas couldn't believe she had just spelled that out. He barely knew Riley, but knew that Maya had probably been spending too much time with her if she was spelling out the word sex instead of just saying it. Maya heard it in her own ears too, and thought the same thing.

Lucas's eyebrow raised at the small girl. "S-e-x?" he repeated. Then it hit him. His grin grew about three sizes at just the thought. "Maya… are you a-" A tiny hand was thrown over his mouth, stopping him before the word came out. Maya's eyes grew to be as big as saucers

"Don't broadcast it!" she said. Slowly she removed her hand from Lucas's mouth. "But yes… technically I am a virgin," she said quietly, her eyes still shifting around the room. The only people who were paying attention were jealous girls who didn't understand why Lucas would spend time talking to Maya. Even they knew that she wouldn't put out for him.

"Technically? What is technically?" he teased. An amused laughter came out of his mouth.

"I don't know! Just yes! Yes I am a virgin," she said in a hushed voice. She had thought all night about whether or not to ask Lucas about this. If anyone was an expert, it was him. But she didn't feel like getting the inevitable teasing that would come with telling him she had never had sex before.

Lucas laughed at her shyness on the topic. But Maya took it as him laughing at her virgin status. "So what exactly is the question here?" Lucas asked.

This was about to get awkward. "I don't know," Maya mumbled. "How do you do it?" she said with zero eye contact.

This was the ultimate in he was looking for. It was like she had just handed him a golden ticket. "You want me to teach you about sex?" Lucas asked.

"Shhh!" Maya jumped. "God tell the whole world why don't ya!?" Lucas wanted to tell her that no one in the hallway gave a damn about their conversation.

"Oh Shortstack-"

"Look are you going to help me or not?" Maya demanded.

"Fine! But only for my sheer amusement," he promised. Sheer amusement, plus maybe a little action of his own. "We can talk after school. But we can't do it at my house. My dad's home all day working with some business partners on a project." The last thing Lucas wanted for Maya to be a witness to a repeat of the night before. "We can talk at Topanga's or something."

"No nowhere too public."

"Oh what you don't want people hearing you talk about that tight little hole of yours," Lucas pestered, leaning in close to Maya.

Maya's face wrinkled in disgust. After last night, she had almost forgotten why she disliked talking to Lucas most of the time. "God you are disgusting! Remind me why I'm letting you of all people help me with this?"

There was that smirk. The smirk Maya hated, but at the same time found so intoxicating. "Because I'm just too charming to resist," Lucas smiled.

She preferred his smile to his smirk. You didn't see the smile as much though. It always felt more real and honest to Maya. Whenever they opened up to each other, which still felt weird for Maya to think about, the quaint smile showed up on his face. Maya wondered how many people he showed this side to. Did he even know he was showing it to Maya? She doubted it. But she reveled in that smile of his.

"We can talk at my place," she said with her own smile, ignoring his comments. "And you'll tell me anything I want to know?"

"Anything. In fact I can show you anything you want to know if you want?" Again, Maya chose to ignore his comment.

"After school. My place," she stated. She turned to walk away, only to turn back to Lucas quickly. "And don't be crude!" she said sharply.

Lucas laughed before yelling after her. "Crude is a pretty big part of my personality Shortstack!"

The rest of the day went by with little to no interaction between the two of them. Maya did find herself sketching a portrait of Lucas absent-mindedly during her math class and Lucas couldn't help but stare at her the entire time they sat across the cafeteria from each other. He gave his little quips in the hallway when they passed each other like he always did. But that was normal for them, it's how they interacted when other people were around. No one said anything about those interactions. They would probably say something about them if they saw Maya and Lucas when they weren't around people. Yeah, Lucas still made his little comments, but not nearly as many. They were open and laughing.

Even now, after school, they sat in Maya's room, Maya on the floor spread out and Lucas on her bed. He had had practice that day after school so he didn't come over until about 4:30. Shock was all over the smaller blonde's face when she opened the door and saw Lucas on the other side holding a bag of food he picked up on the way over. When they talked, it was like they had known each other forever, not that either would admit it, even to themselves.

It had been hours since Lucas arrived at her apartment, but they hadn't yet talked about what he actually came over to talk about. Maya was on the floor, swirling paint around on a canvas. Lucas's eyes were glued to the canvas. And to Maya. Her tongue still stuck out the corner of her mouth when she painted, just like it had done when she was drawing at that napkin at Topanga's. More than anything, he wanted to know what was going on in her mind to produce the art she was creating. She was satisfied with the outcome of the painting after a while and pushed it over to the wall to let it dry. She turned to Lucas and let her eyes hover on him for a while. He was looking through one of her sketchbooks but when he saw her eyes on him, he let his hover on hers too, instead of the book.

"What exactly does it feel like? Does it hurt?" Maya asked, bringing up topic finally.

Lucas laughed and put the now closed sketchbook down on the bed as he sat up and looked at her. "Not if he does it right."

"I'm serious!" Maya growled, wanting him to take this seriously. "What does it feel like?"

"Lay down," Lucas ordered after a second of silence.

"Why?" Maya asked with an arched eyebrow.

Lucas got down on the floor next to her, but her whole body tensed up with his closeness. "You want to know how it feel?" he asked casually.

Maya's eyes rolled around in her head. "Sundance we are not having sex right now!"

"So later then?" he asked, with wiggling eyebrows.

Maya started to lift her body off the ground. This was a horrible idea. She didn't know why she thought he could be serious for one second, especially about this topic. "Oh my god."

"Ok ok!" He begged, pulling her back down to the floor by her arm. "Look just lay down."

"Fine." After just a moment of looking into his eyes, she saw the Lucas she could trust. That Lucas had only shown himself to her maybe twice since she met him and only for short intervals of time.

"Close your eyes."

"No thank you," Maya replied, smiling.

Lucas couldn't help but be a little offended. "Maya what do you think I'm going to molest you? Just close your eyes!"

"I don't want to open them to your hand being on my boob!" Maya shouted.

Lucas just laughed at the thought. "Are we in the 5th grade?" he laughed. "Look do you trust me?"

Sometimes, yes. Most of the time, no. "Not even a little bit," Maya spoke for the moment. She felt so vulnerable and… dare she day it… turned on. Maybe even excited? But that just made her more nervous. This was Lucas! Not a person she should even consider letting do this, whatever 'this' was.

"I'm just going to simulate what it might feel like. Nothing dirty. It's either you want to know what it feels like or you don't. Now will you please just close your eyes!" Lucas ordered.

It took her a moment, but Maya let her eyes shut in one quick movement. Lucas wouldn't admit that he didn't really know what he was doing, but he knew what sex felt like. His strong hand pressed lightly against Maya's side, letting his fingers barely graze the pale flesh.

"I don't feel anything yet Huckleberry," Maya whispered with her eyes still closed tight.

"You have to relax Maya! You're so tense. Just breathe and relax," he insisted.

He moved his hand back up to her stomach, his fingers barely grazing the skin. Up and up his fingers dragged, pausing in the gap of her breasts. Then they fell back down, falling to her thighs, tracing circles in them, every circle moving closer to the area between her legs. Even just waiting to see if his light fingers would graze against the crotch of her pants was enough to hasten Maya's breathing. She felt the hot breath of his breathing on her neck when he leaning in close to her. Fingers moved along her neck, tracing her collar bone and down to meet up with the fingers that were still tracing on her thighs. Maya's head filled with thoughts about having Lucas touch her more. His hand felt so right as it moved gently on her skin, tickling her. The tingling sense took over her entire being, nothing could sooth; not the deep breathes she was trying to take, which only turned into tight gasps as Lucas's fingers explored.

Lucas didn't notice Maya's eyes burst open. She gathered herself enough to notice that every thought she had about how good and exhilarating it all felt, she realized she was connecting it to Lucas. Josh wasn't in her head. No one else was in her head. All she wanted was Lucas's lips on her, his hands, his body.

"Ok cowboy! I get it!" she almost shouted, pushing him off of her. Deep breathes escaped from her as she pulled herself up. Not that she noticed, but Lucas had to take a couple breathes himself. It was all he could do to not lean in and kiss Maya, just once. Lucas rose to his feet and took some steps back.

"Um, so you-you get the point right?" he asked, his voice a bit shaky. No sound came from the girl still sitting on the floor with a blank, but somewhat stunned face, if Lucas had to pick an emotion. He spotted Maya nod her head and then run her fingers through her long hair, trying to straight it out. He didn't know what to do. Neither did Maya. The boy reclaimed his spot on the bed, leaning against the wall.

Maya searched her head for a reasonable explanation for the feelings she just felt rise to the surface, but came up short on answers. "Do you want to watch a movie?" she asked. Surprised, Lucas just nodded. It was dark, but not too late. The tense air was a little hard to stand, but he couldn't deny that he wanted to stay here with the blonde. Maya got up off the floor and left the room, coming back just a minute later with a stack of movies in her hand. Lucas pointed to a random movie, knowing he wouldn't be able to focus on what was on the screen anyway. Maya put the movie in, which turned out to be _The Hangover_ , one of Lucas's favorites.

"You can sit on the bed you know. It is your bed," Lucas spoke when he noticed Maya shift her gaze between the bed and a spot on the floor.

"Ok," she whispered under her breathe. She glared up at Lucas before fully crawling onto the bed. "But just to be clear, _sitting_ is the only thing either of us is doing on this bed right now."

Lucas laughed, but scooted over so she could crawl on and lay out to get comfortable. Unfortunately for Maya, she had a small twin sized bed. It was more than fine for her and her tiny body; it was even ok when Riley slept over and they shared the bed. But when the other person in the bed was someone Maya didn't particularly want to cuddle with, it was a little too small of a space for her liking. After a while, both teens got sucked into the movie. They were laughing and quoting lines. It was like the tension from before was erased. Maya even got them a couple bowls of popcorn in the middle of the movie. Maya couldn't tell when her head dropped onto Lucas's shoulder, neither did Lucas. But it felt almost too natural to notice. Once she did notice, Maya quickly but discreetly moved her head and shifted her position a little farther from the Texan.

When the credits started rolling, Maya started cleaning the bed, picking up little pieces of popcorn that got lost during a small popcorn fight the two had. Lucas wanted to stay. More than anything he wanted to stay. But not for the reasons he would generally want to stay with a girl. That's what scared him. He didn't want to stay to hit on her or make a move or get laid. He wanted to stay just to spend time with her, stay in this bed and watch more movies, talk, any of that. He just wanted to stay with her. And that's why he made a move to leave.

"Maybe I should get going. Before your mom gets home," he said, inching towards the end of the bed. Maya looked up from her job of searching for any lost popcorn kernels.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that. She won't be home until way late. She always gets home super late," Maya said sadly, crossing her legs in front of her.

Lucas thought about the night of the party, when he brought her home and she told him her mom still wasn't home. "So what you're just by yourself a lot?" he asked. His mom was home most of the time. She used to work, but when his dad's company really took off, he didn't want her to have to work anymore. He couldn't imagine just being by yourself most of the time. It sounded like a nightmare, too lonely for his taste.

"Pretty much," Maya said, trying to sound casual. "Usually I just go to Riley's or something."

"Is that what you meant?"

"What?" Maya asked, looking up at Lucas. She was more than surprised to see a gleam of worry in his eyes as he looked at her.

"When you told me you have half a family at best?"

Maya nodded, a little embarrassed. This wasn't something she talked about often, only to a couple choice people. "Oh. Yeah," she sighed.

Lucas didn't know what to say to make her feel better. It was abnormal for him to want to make people feel better. He never felt like it was his job, except for Zay. Zay he would do anything for. Lucas's bright smile, the one that Maya secretly loved to see, the real one he never showed, lit up his face. "Well you can always come to my place. My mom's kind of obsessed with you," he laughed. Her laugh, the one Lucas secretly loved, the one that sounded like a song he could play over and over if given the chance, rang through the room.

"Come on Huckleberry, I'll walk you out," she said, pushing him lightly off the bed.

They walked out to the living room, Maya turning off the kitchen light, knowing she was about to shower and go to bed. Neither knew what to say when they were standing in the doorway of the apartment.

"Um, thanks for coming over. Even though you weren't any help with my actual question," she smirked.

"I offered to show you anything you wanted. Offer is still open," he smirked. It was weird, when it was just the two of them, it was like Maya knew he was just joking. Lucas didn't really know if he was just joking or not, but he didn't make nearly as many come-ons as he did when other people were around, especially his baseball buddies.

Maya laughed at his words and rolled her eyes playfully. Her small hand pushed against his chest, pushing him out the door. "Ok bye Lucas!"

Lucas threw his hand against the door and held his gaze to Maya. Her hand was still placed loosely on his chest, playing with a small pulled thread from his shirt. "I'll see you tomorrow Shortstack," Lucas spoke, when he felt like her eyes were just too blue to keep looking at. Maya grinned and watched as he turned away, causing her hand to fall from his strong chest. She couldn't find it in her to tear her eyes away from him.

"Bye Ranger Rick," she whispered as he left her sight. She kept staring down the hall, even after the boy vanished into the elevator at the end of the hall. Eventually, she turned and faced the inside of her apartment. She let the door shut and then took a moment to digest and process the feeling that jumped around in her stomach. "Shit," she let out under her breathe, stomping off her room.

 **A/N: Some good Lucaya in this chapter! And Maya is starting to feel things for Lucas… did you guys see it coming?;) lol**

 **THE NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE YOUR FAVORITE. I promise you the next chapter is a biggie. The biggest! The more reviews I get the quicker I'll update! So make sure to review review review! Love you guys:)**


	11. Something Undeniable

**A/N: Ok here it is… the chapter I hyped up at the end of the last chapter! Lol Full author's note at the end…**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 11: "Something Undeniable"

Maya stood outside of the small Chinese restaurant that sat on the edge of Chinatown. She and Josh were supposed to meet up for another date. With the success of their Coney Island date a few days earlier, they had been talking on the phone, but had yet to see each other. Josh kept claiming his schoolwork kept him pretty busy. Maya believed him and actually offered to meet up with him and help, but he denied her, saying he knew she wouldn't understand most of the work he had. But tonight they had a dinner plan. Usually Maya wouldn't want Chinese, it wasn't her favorite. But it was Josh's favorite so she was willingly to try this place he swore by.

She was right on time stepping into the doorway. 7:00 sharp. It was a small place and you could see the whole restaurant from the front entrance. Maya's little head poked around, looking for Josh's face but had no luck. Outside was a little chilly so her hands were pretty much shoved in her pockets the whole walk over. Her phone was in her purse so she pulled it out to check for missed messages from Josh about maybe being late. The screen illuminated and revealed she had missed a text. 3 minutes ago, Josh texted her, but it wasn't about being late.

From: Boing

 _Hey I'm not going to be able to make it tonight…. I'm really sorry. School stuff! I'll make it up to you…_

An exasperated sigh came out of Maya's mouth. She wouldn't deny being disappointed. But the promise of 'I'll make it up to you' made her feel a little better. She didn't feel like replying, but figured she should.

To: Boing

 _It's alright! Don't worry about it_

The tiny silver lining showed itself when the aggravating smell of Chinese food hit the blonde's nose. It was way too overwhelming for her taste. She opened the door of the restaurant and stepped back out into the streets. Not really wanting to go home to her empty apartment, knowing her mom was working a double shift and wouldn't be home until morning, she wandered the streets. A thought popped into her head about going to Riley's. At least then she wouldn't be alone. And no doubt Topanga cooked dinner and food did sound so good right now. Maya had been too nervous about the date to eat before. It hadn't occurred to her until she was walking to the restaurant that maybe she should have eaten before so she wouldn't have to eat so much Chinese food until she was full. Long story short: she was pretty hungry.

Before starting her walk to the subway to get to her best friend's house, she felt a shiver run through her spine. She spotted a little hole in the wall coffee shop on the street corner and made her way there. She would kill for a hot chocolate right now. Before she even opened the door of the place, she looked in the window. It was just a glance, but it was enough to see a very familiar face. Josh Matthews sat in a seat on the side of the café. It wouldn't have been a painful sight if he had been alone. But he was not alone. Across from him, giggling and running her hands through her long dark hair, was a girl. Maya eyed her for a second. She tried to decide whether or not she wanted to still go inside the coffee shop. Something unknown inside of her told her to go in and get to the bottom of what was going on. Just 20 minutes ago she got a text from him that told her he was busy to just have dinner with her but here he was. The door in front of her swung open as someone was exiting the shop. They gave her a curious look, wondering if she was going inside or not. The blonde thanked them and grabbed the door from their hand, walking inside and making her way over to Josh.

"Josh?" she peeped, stepping up behind him. Both his head and the head of the girl with him turned to Maya. Of course, the dark haired girl was oblivious to who Maya was. But Josh's eyes grew to be the size of saucers, clearly not expecting to run into the blonde. He rose from his seat and guided Maya over to the other side of the shop with his hand on the small of her back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked nervously.

"I could ask you the same question," Maya snapped back. She didn't want to be mad, but she couldn't help but feel at least a little offended. And embarrassed. "I thought you said you had too much school stuff to do to go out tonight?"

Josh looked around nervous, obviously looking for an acceptable answer. He caught sight of Maya's eyes on the dark haired girl sitting back across the shop. "She's helping me study. We're in the same class," he tried to offer up a quick remedy.

"You don't have any textbooks. I've seen you when you study Josh, you bring like an entire library with you," Maya retaliated. She didn't want him to beat around the bush. That seemed to hurt more than if he just told her the truth. She pretty much already knew where this was going anyway. "Josh just tell me what's really going on."

A reluctant expression took over his face. Maya knew he was too nice of a guy to want to hurt her. "I like you Maya. But I'm going to graduate college this year. And you'll still be in high school," he said. It was the same issue it always seemed to be for them. Maya wasn't surprised. But lack of surprise didn't stop it from hurting a little still. "It wouldn't work Maya."

"Yeah." That's all she managed to get out.

"Please don't be upset," Josh pleaded quietly.

"I'm not upset!" she said, holding back tears from coming out. "I will-um, I will let you get back to your date," Maya managed to choke out before leaving the shop. Tears finally burst through the rims of her blue eyes when she walked out and felt the cold air hit her.

It was a humiliating feeling. She had too much hope with Josh that maybe they could happen. But the age difference would always be too much for them. It felt like she could never show her face around him again. She would just feel that feeling of rejection bolt through her bones whenever their eyes met now. Her previous plan of going to Riley's was quickly torn apart and thrown away in her head. The last thing she wanted was to let Riley know why she was crying. And Maya couldn't imagine her crying end any time soon. She didn't bother wiping her tears on her walk home. Ignoring the looks from a few people on the street, she let the tears keep coming. They had to run out sometime right?

Stepping out of the elevator to her floor, she suddenly felt grateful that her mom wasn't home. Her empty apartment felt a little like a sanctuary where she could let these tears flow in peace as they needed to. She felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket as she stuck her key in the door, but figured it was Josh. She didn't want to look at it or anything. Once in her apartment, she slumped with soft footsteps to her room. Her phone was thrown onto the bed and she slipped on a loose pair of boyfriend jeans and a comfortable cropped sweater. Thank god for water proof mascara because she knew that if she wasn't wearing that, she would look like a wild raccoon by now.

She laid on her bed, pulling her covers around her. Reluctantly, she looked at her phone. The message she expected to be from Josh was actually from Lucas.

From: Huckleberry

 _How did the date go? Did he get you in bed yet?_

To: Huckleberry

 _Leave me alone Lucas_

From: Huckleberry

 _Ok ignore the second question… how did it go?_

To: Huckleberry

 _I'm serious Lucas LEAVE ME ALONE._

The phone was discarded again to the end of the bed. Maya pulled her covers all the way up and over her head, enveloping herself in darkness. The emotions quieted themselves down and all that was left was some rogue tears and soft hiccupped sobs. Sleep wouldn't come, as much as Maya wanted it to. So she just laid in bed, covers over her head. After a while of staring at nothing, she got up and got a clean white canvas out of the closet and started painting. Unfortunately, that meant giving into her feelings and letting them all come out again. Little tears came out of her eyes and she had to make sure they didn't land on her wet canvas as she swiped paint over it.

Time didn't even exist. Before Maya knew it, a couple hours had passed and suddenly there was a knock on the door. She reluctantly dragged herself out of her poor mood and wiped her face clean of tears. Her pink, puffy eyes gave her emotions away but she didn't care. Dragging her canvas to the wall, she decided she would probably end up telling whoever was at the door to leave and then just go back to bed and attempt sleep again.

"What are you doing here?" Maya asked when she opened the front door to see Lucas standing there.

"You sounded upset on the phone," he said. His eyes were glued to the puffy mess that were Maya's own usual bright eyes. He wasn't sure what pulled him here, but he could tell when Maya refused to play their game over text that something was wrong. And all of a sudden, before he processed what he was doing, he was on his way to her place. "What happened on your date?"

"Nothing. It was fine," Maya grunted, wiping away more wetness from her face.

"If it was fine then you wouldn't be crying right now," Lucas said.

"I really don't know why you care," Maya sniffled. It seemed weird for him to be here right now at her door. Maybe it was her vulnerable state but she noticed a little realness in his eyes. The Lucas at her door was her favorite version of him. This was the version of him that was showing up a little more often lately, around her at least if nowhere else. She could talk to this Lucas. She was somehow sure of it just by seeing the look in his eyes.

"Neither do I to be honest," Lucas smiled. A genuine smile. "But I really do. So seriously, what happened?"

"Exactly what I should've known would happen," Maya sighed.

Lucas felt it was ok to invite himself in when he saw Maya walk over to the couch and sink into it. He shut the door quietly behind him and sat himself down on the coffee table right in front of Maya. No sound was coming out of her. He stayed silent too, wanting to give her time to gather herself before telling him what happened.

"I'm too young. And I should've seen it coming because I'm always too young for him. That's what it always is," Maya cried. "He canceled our date so he could go on a date with some other girl," she finally revealed. Freezing in place, Lucas felt like he couldn't say anything back. He could think of more than a couple occasions that he had done this exact thing to a girl. He was racked with guilt that he couldn't comfort Maya without being a hypocrite. A little charge surged through his hand as he placed it on Maya's knee, rubbing his thumb lightly over the denim fabric of her jeans. "I'm so stupid for thinking that it could be any different!"

"Maya you are not stupid," Lucas shot back. More guilt ran through him. It was so heavy on his shoulders that he felt physically weighed down just sitting here. He never felt guilt and didn't know exactly how to deal with this heavy feeling. "Look maybe this is partly my fault. I gave you all this advice and I might have given you this false hope."

"It's not your fault Lucas. It's just always that I'm too young for him and you didn't know that when we started this whole thing. This is my fault," Maya cried, wiping away more tears. It was odd. This was a humiliating thing to have happened to her and she didn't want to talk to or see anyone just one hour ago. But here she was opening up, letting out her emotions. Letting out her emotions was never something that Maya Hart was good at. But she was doing it now. To Huckleberry nonetheless.

"It also might have helped to know that he was an idiot," Lucas grinned. "Missing out on you makes him an idiot."

Maya smiled back at Lucas. A small smile, but it was still a smile and she did not think a smile was even possible right now. It was Maya who broke the eye contact between the two of them. Somehow the whole moment seemed very intimate. Maya quickly blamed it on her emotion and all too vulnerable state. "You don't have to stay here with me you know," she whispered, completely drying her face and eyes with a tissue she got from the box on the side table.

"So what? Just leave you all alone?" Lucas questioned, already determined to stay with the sad girl.

"It's not a big deal Sundance. I'm always alone."

"Well you're not alone tonight," Lucas beamed. Determined to keep Maya's spirits up, he hatched a plan quick. "You hungry?"

Maya nodded reluctantly. Lucas had no obligation to stay with her or try to make her feel better. And Maya certainly didn't feel like being hit on all night if he was going to revert back to that Lucas. "Yeah," she finally answered out loud. "My dinner date didn't work out, so…," she joked. The joking seemed like a good sign to Lucas. And to Maya, who knew that if Lucas didn't come over than she wouldn't be feeling better at all.

"Alright. Then I'll tell you what, how about I go down the street and get us some food? And when I come back, we can just watch a bunch of movies. Whichever movies you want," he suggested. Maya nodded in return and gave her last little sniffle to end her crying.

Without wasting a second, Lucas got up and made his way to the door. "Thanks Huckleberry," Maya said in a low, but still audible voice. She didn't even look up at him as she spoke. Truth was, she felt enough lightening in the moment without the eye contact they were becoming known for. Lucas gave a short glance from over his shoulder, but smiled and continued his walk out when he saw Maya still looking down at the crumpled up tear-stained tissue in her hands.

It didn't take long for Lucas to come back with a big bag full of tacos from the place down the street that Maya pointed out when he walked her home the night she had dinner with his parents. Maya was elated at the sight, happy to trade the Chinese food she would've had for her favorite: Mexican food. While Lucas was gone, Maya picked out a stack of movies for them to watch. She tried to take it easy on him and not pick anything too chick-flicky. It was nice of him to decide to stay with her and she didn't want him to regret it. The two spread out on Maya's bed like they did a few nights ago. But this time, they weren't so concerned with not being too close. It didn't seem to matter this time. Maya's little legs were thrown over Lucas's slightly and his hand kept landing on Maya's leg when he had nowhere else to put it. This time, Maya didn't care when her head landed on the cowboy's shoulder. She didn't move her head after she noticed, she just mentally commented on how nicely her head fit in that spot between his neck and shoulder. Somewhere in the middle of the second movie, they started talking. Not about anything in particular, but just about everything. They didn't even notice when the credits started rolling. They were too busy talking about what they wanted for their future, Maya's head still firmly planted on the blonde boy's shoulder.

"A vet? Seriously?"

"Why the tone of surprise?" Lucas laughed, curious. Although, he wasn't too curious. Most people wouldn't peg him as someone who would rather spend their life caring for animals rather than play sports professionally or something in that area.

"I just wouldn't have guessed that," Maya smiled. "It's sweet though." Her head lifted allowing for eye contact between the two. Maya's eyes were lighter now than when Lucas first walked into her apartment earlier in the night. Lucas watched the gold flecks float around in her irises in the light of the white string lights she had hung around the room that was currently the only light illuminating their faces.

"I don't know if sweet is typically a word that would describe me," Lucas alleged, breaking his eyes away from the blue oasis.

"I think it is. But the real you. Not the crappy, sex-crazed version of you that runs amuck," Maya teased.

"And how do you know that's not the real me?" Lucas asked in a joking tone. No one ever really tried to get to know Lucas past getting to say they made out with him or slept with him. It was a calming feeling in his chest to hear Maya say that she believed he was better than he acted. If he was being honest, even he didn't know if he was better sometimes.

"Is it?"

Those blue orbs got to Lucas in a way that was real. In a way that he never felt with not just any other girl, but any other person. It scared him a bit that she had that power when she wasn't even doing anything but look at him.

"I don't know," he sighed. "It's like no one ever sees anything but that version of me. And sometimes I just feel like maybe they don't see anything else because this is me. I'm that shit guy. But for some reason everybody likes that shit guy, so why try being anything else?"

"You're something else with me. Around me you're not that guy. At least not all the time," she smiled back.

"I still don't know why," Lucas said honestly. He had no idea what it was about Maya that got him going above and beyond for her. Quietly, he wished he could understand this feeling better.

"It's because you're trying to sleep with me," Maya joked.

Lucas laughed. "Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me," he said, nudging her arm.

Playfully, Maya pushed him back, laughing that laugh she had no idea he loved so much. Her hand slid down his toned arm and rested on his wrist. Her fingers wrapped around it enough to let him know she didn't want him to pull away. Not that he would anyway. Maya's thumb slowly started stroking the skin of Lucas's palm. Just that tiny touch of her skin on his made her want so much more. It made her want to move closer, get more personal. She pushed down the feeling as best as she could but she was consumed with the feeling of that urge trying to swallow her whole. She wouldn't know, but Lucas was fighting that same urge. Both of them were getting dangerously close to losing. Both avoiding looking at the other person. Lucas settling for staring around the bedroom and Maya kept her eyes on their close hands, her fingers still wrapped around his wrist.

"Thank you for coming over. And staying with me," Maya said in her attempt to break the horrid tension that surrounded them and made its way into her lungs.

"It's no problem Shortstack," Lucas returned.

There it was. The eye contact both of them had been trying to avoid. Both had turned their heads to just glance at the other but accidentally caught their eyes. Inching closer and closer to each other, neither knew who initiated the closeness they had now. But it was sure that it was Maya who initiated the kiss. She couldn't deny the urge anymore. She pressed her hand against his cheek, cupping it, pulling his face to hers. The second their lips touched, soft and slow, it was like lightening ran through her. She felt her heart beat faster, suddenly at what felt like 200 beats per minute. Lucas's hands tangled through her hair, running its length down to the tips. Even pulling away for a second felt wrong. Her breaths quickened, hitching when she felt the Texan's strong hands grip her hips. Her body was pulled onto of his. She threw her legs on either side of him, straddling the boy. Under her shirt, his hands gripped and pulled at her skin, dragging his fingertips along the warmth of her flesh. With his tongue fighting hers for dominance, Maya linked her arms behind his neck, leaning her body in close. She could feel the heat rising from his body against her own. It was like a heat grate with steam surrounding them. Like a magnetic force neither could explain was pulling them closer, their bodies melting into each other. Maya let Lucas slide her shirt over her head and throw it to the floor. Never had she wanted to take his shirt off so much. She wanted as much of his skin on her as possible. The image of his heaving chest on top of her, the feeling she got in her head just thinking about it pushed her to pull his shirt off too. Her shaky fingers traced the lines in between his abs. The shaking, trembling was remedied only by Lucas's hand gripping hers, his forehead pressed against hers. Her brain felt like mush. It felt wrong to not kiss him. It felt wrong to do anything but kiss him in this moment. As if he was reading her mind, he pressed his lips to hers, reigniting the fire they had in their mouths.

The force of a strong bicep wrapped around Maya's small frame and flipped her on her back. Clothes flew off, joining the pile on the floor. Heavy pants escaped from the tinier blonde who was gasping for air in between kisses. The lips of the taller blonde on her neck made it difficult to focus on breathing. His hand gripping at her sides, on her hips firmly, pleasured her too much to concentrate. Her lungs burned with desire to have his taste in her mouth. Her lips pressed to his chest once, twice, three times. She threw her head back on the pillow, blonde hair spreading everywhere. She couldn't help but let out a moan as she felt the deep kisses he was laying on her skin between her breasts. A deep pressure ran through her bottom half as the taller blonde finally entered her. His parted lips eased the tight feeling when they touched her lips and ran down her neck. Moaning from Maya filled the room and mixed with the deep breaths from Lucas. She pulled her toned leg up higher, allowing his member to enter deeper into her. The feeling that surged through her was familiar. She felt it before, when she was laying on her back on the floor. That was merely a small taste of the energizing emotion she had now with Lucas's hands touching her. Lucas pushed in and out slowly, only speeding up when he felt lost in a moment of ecstasy. Then, when he heard a moan that was more pain than pleasure, he slowed back into a delicate rhythm. He would kiss her chin, her nose, anywhere to calm her down and ease her back into the movement. Their bodies, like one, moved around. He let his hands freely wander her body and felt the gentle stride of her fingers doing the same.

Maya felt close to her orgasm. It was something she had never felt before and if she had to take a guess, she would say this was the moment. Each kiss brought her closer. Her erect nipples sat in between Lucas's teeth, being pulled softly. She reached her hand up and pressed her palm against the headboard, finding the movement Lucas was in and matching it. Lucas could feel her wetness already and knew she was close. He held his breath, releasing his final thrusts into her quivering body. Finally, like a force of nature, she came, repeating the boy's name over and over under her breath. Lucas wasn't far behind, his forehead against Maya's as he released. Their breathing synced as their lips did the same. Maya rolled to the side as Lucas collapsed next to her, exhausted. His hands pushed back whatever blonde hair fell in her face and kissed her back. It was like the world fell at their knees and the universe was just them. Maya blocked out all the sounds from the street and could only hear the breathing of the boy next to her. Her eyes were heavy and ready to close. But her lips begged to remain tied to Lucas's. Lucas could feel a release on his chest. A feeling that was once like there was a huge knot in it, now felt light. Almost as if a thank you, he wrapped his arms around Maya and pulled her close to him. She sank into his eyes as they opened. The jungle of green stared back at her but she had no words.

She pulled her blonde hair back and laid her head on the comforting spot that was Lucas's chest. Her heavy eyes sank closed, feeling the cowboy twist strands of her hair around his fingers. His heart beat under her ear lulled her into a deep sleep. She was content with just the warmth of his body but suddenly felt him pull the covers over both of them. Lucas laid awake even after Maya's steady breathing meant she was fast asleep. He didn't know much right now. He didn't know what would happen. Or what they would do or even what they would be to each other after this. But he did know that he had never felt like that. He couldn't even count how many girls he had slept with in the past, but he knew none of those times had ever felt like this. None of those girls had given him a feeling even close to the one Maya gives him. He let his eyes shut, listening to the quiet breathing of the girl he held in his arms.

 **A/N: PLEASE READ: Was that what you were expecting? I would like to explain something:**

 **I can't help but feel like a lot of people are going to say that these two sleeping together happened too fast. I worried about that a lot when I was about to post this chapter and reading the comments from the last chapter. I put A LOT of thought into stories before I write them and think through where I'm going to put certain events and how they happen and I had to go back to that in my head to remember why I had them sleep together when they did. Here's the thing… Maya and Lucas are young. They're teenagers and teens are impulsive and stupid and they do things without thinking because it's pretty "in the moment." Especially when it has to do with sex and hormones, they tend to be very impulsive… I know I was when I was a teenager. And I also think it is very much Maya's personality/character to be impulsive and not think things through too much before she does them, so this felt in character for Maya, if not perhaps dramatized a bit.**

 **And this is not the end of things. There is still plenty of story left and it's not like they just had sex and are all of a sudden in love and everything is happy rainbows. So don't worry! Thanks so much for reading guys and I hope you liked this chapter.**

 **Also I've never been good at writing smut so I hope this wasn't too horrible of an attempt lol Make sure to review! More reviews means the next chapter is up faster!**


	12. Just Give Me a Break

**A/N: Ok so I have to clarify something first… I got a lot of reviews of the last chapter asking if Maya and Lucas used a condom. I guess when I wrote the chapter I just felt like it was implied and I didn't feel the need to write it. I apologize for that! But I can tell you YES they did indeed use a condom! This isn't another one of my crazy Lucaya pregnancy stories lol With that clarified, enjoy the next chapter!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 12: "Just Give Me a Break"

Morning light hit Maya's face as she laid in bed, barely awake. She felt the warmth of the sun rising and knew, even in her sleepy state that she must have forgotten to set her alarm. But she didn't want to open her eyes. She could feel how cold it was outside the fortress of blankets that covered her body. Her bed was so comfortable and warm that she figured she could sleep a few more minutes and maybe just be late to first period.

Suddenly, as she settled her body in more, a pressure tightened around her waist. She hadn't noticed anything wrapped around her until now, but it was another sense of warmth. Then Maya remembered the night before. She remembered Lucas and… what they did. Her eyes opened slowly, seeing the ray of sunrise light enter in the room barely through the window. Peaking down, she could clearly see a white hand wrapped around her torso, pulling her in close. There was just enough free space for her body to rotate a bit. Hoping not to see the boy she had despised for most of their 'friendship', if you even wanted to call it that, Maya turned around. The body behind her, shirtless to match her own naked form, was indeed that of Lucas Friar. His eyes were shut tight, probably fast asleep, and arm draped over the smaller blonde. Maya's mind went blank for what seemed like hours, but was only seconds. How could this have happened? Her eye sight left the sleeping boy next to her and she slowly pushed the arm off of her so she could slide out of bed. She dragged a sheet out and used it to cover her form as her feet touched the carpeted floor.

"Shit, shit, shit," she repeated to herself in a whisper.

She searched the floor for any clothes to put on. She found her underwear from the night before across the room from the bed and wondered how wild they were being. Forcing herself to not think about what happened between her and Lucas was working up until now. As she snapped her bra clasps behind her back, she caught a thought in her head of the previous night. Not even she could deny how well their bodies fit together or how good it felt to have her lips to his. She wouldn't say no to having her lips to his right now.

In the middle of mentally cussing herself out for letting the night before go that far, she heard a rustle sound from behind her. She turned quickly to see the blonde boy in her bed open his eyes and run his hands through his hair. His eyes blinked, trying to adjust to the bleak light of dusk. Then finally his eye sight turned to Maya, standing half naked on the other side of her room.

"Hey," Lucas said awkwardly. He sat up, making sure the covers of the bed still covered his 'man area.' Lucas wasn't quite sure what to say right now either. In actuality, he had never stayed over at a girl's house before. He would usually leave right after or sneak out before morning. He didn't know how to do the morning after part. Down on the floor, he spotted his white boxer briefs and shifted his eyes from them to Maya. Maya caught the hint and picked them up, handing them to him. Once they were on, he got off the bed, but avoided stepping too close to Maya. Although Lucas's green eyes stayed on Maya, the small girl avoided looking at him at all costs. "So last night was-"

"You know I have to get ready for school. I don't want to be too late," Maya interrupted him. She crossed her arms over her chest, blocking herself from the boy in front of her. It's not that she was self-conscious of her body; it's not like Lucas hadn't seen everything already. But she felt so vulnerable now, after the sex. It was uncomfortable and unsettling to think that Lucas had gotten that from her, especially since it was her first time.

Lucas hadn't actually thought about the sun being out meaning that it was later than they should've woken up to be at school on time. He glanced outside the window and saw the sun rising up over the tall buildings. "Oh right…" he said, trailing off his sentence into nothingness. "I could wait and walk you to school," he suggested.

Maya shook her head immediately, still avoiding eye contact with Lucas. "No it's fine Lucas," she said quickly.

"You sure? It's-"

"I said it's fine Lucas," Maya interrupted yet again. "I think you should go. I'll just see you at school ok?"

Without even waiting for a response from Lucas, Maya made her way quickly out of the room and into the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her and locked it, even though she was pretty sure Lucas wouldn't try to follow her in there. Listening carefully to what was on the other side of the door, she heard soft footsteps walking around. After a couple minutes, during which she assumed he was getting dressed, she heard his footsteps move past the bathroom and then soon after heard the front door close.

It was a sharp change from when she had woken up to now because now her brain seemed to race from thought to thought, instead of being blank like it was earlier. Maya decided right then and there to be honest with at least herself. Lucas meant something to her. She couldn't tell you when he started to mean something to her, but he did. He was different than any guy she ever found herself liking. Their relationship was challenging, but they bit back at each other. It was like some cute game that only the two of them were in on. And as much as he made her want to scream sometimes, she enjoyed talking to him. At least when he wasn't putting on some show, when it was just the two of them. She felt something for him that she couldn't explain or describe. But the feeling was there. Last night made that painful obvious as she fell asleep in his arms, listening to his heartbeat in her ear under his chest. Maya didn't want to stop the night before. There was a very clear moment Maya remembers where they were just kissing. Her shirt was already on the floor and the strong hands of the boy with her were grasping at her hips. It was clear in her head in that moment that they were about to have sex; there was no denying it. But Maya didn't want to stop.

But maybe those feelings she had made it all worse. Because her and Lucas couldn't be anything. From the moment they met, Lucas had made jokes and promises to sleep with her. Over and over he had repeated his goal to get her into bed. Maya couldn't help but feel that sex-crazed, vulgar Lucas wasn't an act. Maybe that was the real Lucas. The Lucas that she got to know recently, the sweet one who seemed to genuinely care about her, maybe that Lucas was the act. It was all an act to get her to this one point. He had slept with her, just like he wanted.

So here Maya sat, on top of her closed toilet, letting the shower water run. Her eyes were dry, but she could tell they were pink with emotion. She didn't even have to look in the mirror to know that. Time felt like a blur as she stood in the shower with the warm water hitting her and dressed afterwards. She had already missed first period by the time she got to school but she didn't care. All she cared about was avoiding Lucas, at least until the rest of the day.

Across school, Lucas walked through the door, also having missed his first period of the day. His hand rustled through his blonde hair as he became more and more frustrated. He couldn't get the night before out of his head. He couldn't get Maya's form out of his head; her eyes, her lips. But nothing made sense. It felt so different when he was with Maya than when he was with any other girl.

He didn't understand why Maya had acted the way she did this morning. She dodged him all she could and all but pushed him out the door. His brain was on complete overload.

"Lucas!" he heard Zay's voice behind him. Lucas made a sharp turn to look at his best friend running up to him as the blonde was ripped from the thoughts plaguing his head. Lucas didn't bother trying to brighten his eyes up from their droopy state. The smirk that was usually planted firmly on his face was absent as well. "You missed first period."

"Yeah I know. Sorry man," Lucas said with no emotion. He continued his walk to his locker down the hall with Zay following close behind.

His best friend caught on to the depressed state of the blonde boy. "What's wrong with you? Did you fight with your dad or something?" Zay asked. Usually when Lucas was in this kind of mood, it was because of his dad. It was a valid guess. But all it usually took was for Lucas to flirt with, or make out with, one of the dozens of girls whose eyes were glued to him in the hall. He always preferred the latter of course.

"No," Lucas answered deadpan in response to the question about his dad.

"Then what's going on?"

Lucas stood in place, his eyes glued to Zay. Telling him seemed like the right thing to do for himself, but maybe Maya wouldn't want people to know. Even though Zay was just one person and he was friends with Maya, maybe she would prefer if Lucas didn't go on telling people. God but he needed to ask Zay what he should do.

Lucas pulled in close to Zay in an attempt to not let anyone else hear their conversation. "Look if I tell you something, you can't let it get around. It's about Maya," he murmured.

Zay's eyebrow arched as the girl's name left his friend's mouth. He knew Lucas had some weird soft spot for the blonde girl Zay himself had quickly befriended. But he also knew that Lucas had a power to hurt Maya if she gave him the chance. Never did he think Maya would actually let him close enough to hurt her. So hearing Lucas say her name gave him a little bit of a chill.

"What about Maya?" Zay asked, nervous.

"We slept together," Lucas let out quickly.

Zay's eyes widened as the sentence came out. This was bad, real bad. "What? Wh-when did this happen? What?" Zay stuttered. Confusion ran through him like a river. Only a couple days ago, Lucas was complaining that he never got to be with Maya anymore since she was going out more with Josh. And now he was hearing that Lucas and Maya had slept together. Maya complained about Lucas every single day. Zay started to think about all the things Lucas could have said or done to convince her. He started mentally preparing to chew Lucas out for hurting a nice girl like Maya and for not knowing when to stop. But then he noticed Lucas's eyes blink with guilt. Again, Lucas pushed his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Last night," he answered. Zay stared at him with a gapped mouth and wide eyes, requiring more information. "She had a date with Josh and he was an ass. She was upset so I went over to her place and one thing led to another. I don't know what happened! We were just kissing at first… but then she let me take her shirt off and she took off mine," Lucas explained. Truthfully, he wanted to smile thinking about the night before. Thinking about the night before only made him think about this awkward morning after and he wanted to do anything but smile thinking about that.

"Let me guess, you bolted out of there so fast you almost forgot your shoes? It wouldn't be the first time," Zay frowned.

Lucas let out a deep sigh. "No I stayed all night," Lucas revealed. Zay knew full well that it was the first time Lucas had actually stayed all night with a girl. "I stayed all night and this morning she didn't even want to look at me and I don't know why."

Zay gave him an obvious look. "You know why."

"What are you talking about?"

"Lucas you go through girls like you're keeping score. Maya knows that," his harsh tone announced. "Did you ever think Maya is a little disappointed to be added to that list of girls you would rather see naked than have a conversation with?"

"But that's not the case with her!"

Lucas had yet to even admit it to himself, especially out loud. Maya actually meant something to him. Normally girls were one and done. A couple might have made their way to his bed more than once, but not because he cared about them. It was more because they were the female version of him; girls who could sleep with a guy and not want anything after. "I like her Zay. I don't know… maybe along the way of acting like I cared, I actually started to care."

He cared about Maya Hart. Lucas genuinely cared about 5-foot tall, blonde haired, sharp tongued Maya Hart. He kept repeated that to himself in his head to let it sink in. Zay just stared on, also trying to digest the information he wasn't used to either.

"But you still slept with her," Zay stated. To him, this was just classic Lucas. He said he cared about the girl but still got her in bed. Zay had spent the last few weeks hearing over and over from his best friend that his main goal was to sleep with Maya. So he didn't feel like a horrible friend for assuming Lucas was just being typical him. But Zay wouldn't let Maya get hurt in the process.

"I regret it! Ok I regret sleeping with her. It was too fast and I know that," Lucas whined. Those were words he never pictured himself saying. If this wasn't a serious conversation that involved one of Zay's good friends, Zay would have burst into a laugh at the sound of Lucas saying he was moving too fast with a girl. "But she's… I don't know she's different. And I don't know exactly what it is, I wish I did. But I think she's important to me."

The words were strong and clear; like Lucas suddenly got the thought straight in his head. This was how he felt. He wouldn't try to deny that anymore. Zay wanted to be convinced but he had had years of watching Lucas womanize girl after girl. It wasn't crazy for him to not believe this story of newfound feelings right away.

The rest of the day, Lucas wandered around school looking for Maya. He was positive she was putting effort into avoiding him. There were certain times during the day when they would just run into each other in between classes, but today no matter how quickly Lucas moved through the halls or how long he would wait in the spot where they normally crossed paths, he never spotted her. His eyes kept scanning the halls through the windows of his classrooms to see a blur of blonde hair walk by. But it never came.

Maya purposely walked around the long way to all her classes. She didn't want to give Lucas enough power to know that she was dodging him. But the thought of seeing him, at least right now, made her want to pass out. So she moved as quickly as her little feet could take her the long way to each class through the day. She left school during lunch, knowing she couldn't avoid Lucas while they were both in the cafeteria. For a moment, she considered hiding out in the art room and painting her feelings out. How obvious a hiding place would that be? And unknown to her, Lucas did indeed check the art room when he couldn't find the short girl in the lunch room at her normal table with Farkle and Riley. So ditching school campus for their 40 minute lunch was a good idea on her part.

Once Maya walked back through the front doors of the school after lunch, she felt several pairs of eyes on her. Once she looked up to each of them, they would look away, but she knew she was the topic of their conversations. Actually, she had noticed it almost all day up until now. It felt like more people were looking at her as each hour went on. Trying to ignore all the eyes that seemed to be on her, she spotted Farkle by his locker. She walked up to him quickly.

"Why do I feel like the entire school is staring at me?" she whispered in a harsh tone.

Farkle's eyes suddenly turned to her, but they weren't as welcoming as they usually were. They were hard and narrowed in discernment. "They probably all heard," he said with judgement in his voice.

"Heard about what?" Maya asked, honestly confused.

Farkle slammed his locker and squinted his eyes directly at Maya. "About you and Lucas," he said matter-of-factly.

Maya froze as soon as the short sentence left the boy's mouth. She wasn't quite sure exactly what they had heard or how much they knew. But her gut told her she should have saw this coming. Surely Lucas would want to brag about being the first guy in the school to get Maya in bed. Guys had tried before, Maya was gorgeous and guys around school knew it. But Maya always turned them down. Now Maya, the one girl in the school who claimed she was repulsed at the sight of Lucas or the sound of his voice, had had sex with that boy himself.

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked.

Farkle opened his mouth to answer the blonde, but didn't get a chance to get any actual words out when a sharp voice rang down the hall towards them.

"You had sex with Lucas!?"

Maya turned to the voice and saw an angry Riley marching down the hall towards Farkle and herself. Maya noticed an anger in her eyes that she had never seen before. It wasn't even recognizable on Riley's sweet face that was usually nothing but sunshine. When she got closer, standing right in front of the blonde, a hurt was suddenly visible in her eyes.

"Riley… please don't be mad. I-"

"You knew I liked him!" Riley burst out, not caring to hear the rest of Maya's words. "You knew I liked him! You told me he wasn't a good person. But what you really meant was that he wasn't good enough for me right?"

Maya's heart broke. Hearing what Riley thought, a thought that was the opposite of true. Lucas Friar turned out to be the exact person she thought he was. Everything she told Riley in the beginning about Lucas, everything she had thought the night before was wrong, turned out to be completely true. He was telling everyone about their night together. Maya couldn't help but think he would've done the same to Riley if they had gotten to that point.

"Riley you know that's not true!" Maya tried to reason. Tears welled up in Maya's eyes thinking about her best friend being mad at her.

"How could you do that?" Riley's voice was almost inaudible. She could barely get her voice above a whisper without a sea of tears falling down her cheeks. The betrayal she felt was unreal and she had zero interest in hearing anything Maya had to say.

"Riley please just let me explain," Maya cried.

The blonde's hand reached out to her friend. But Riley quickly backed away. "I don't want to hear it Maya," Riley sniffled back some tears before continuing to speak. "You lied to me about Lucas. You slept with him even when you knew I liked him. A best friend isn't supposed to do that to her best friend."

With those last words, Riley turned and walked away, leaving Maya with tears running down her face. If every last person in the hall wasn't staring at her before, they definitely were now. Maya didn't look up at any of them. She was far too embarrassed, because of Lucas and because of the very public fight she just had with Riley.

Looking up, she turned to where Farkle was standing. He had little sympathy in his eyes but Maya understood why.

"I didn't lie to her," Maya said in a low voice. She told lies, but not for the reason Riley thinks. Everything was just so tangled and messy. She understood why it looked bad, but she just wanted Riley to give her a chance to explain.

"You did Maya," Farkle said truthfully. "You know of all people, I thought you were the one person who wouldn't give into Lucas. Especially going that far," he berated.

"I don't know what you want me to say right now Farkle!" Maya cried. "I feel bad enough right now ok? I thought he was different and I was stupid for thinking that. But now I'm the one that's hurt and humiliated so can you give me a break?"

Farkle was going to speak, apologize. But he instead looked at his blonde friend and saw the real hurt she held in her wet, blue eyes. Putting out his arms, he pulled Maya in for a hug, holding her tight. Maya's little arms wrapped around the genius and let her golden hair drape over his shoulder so her tears could be hidden from students passing by.

She felt stupid more than anything. Lucas knew exactly how to get to her. He knew how to trick her and make her believe that he was worthy of what she had given to him. Thinking back to the night before, she remembered that she was the one that closed the space between their lips. Maya had initiated it. She was the one who chose to let it keep going, going past what she had ever done with another boy. And now the whole school knew. Lucas got to brag to every guy in the locker room and every person in the cafeteria, while Maya stood here with tears in her eyes and an angry best friend.

She never wanted to see Lucas again.

 **A/N: Lots of drama to come, but as well as cute moments afterwards… but first lots of drama lol What else would even expect from me?;)**

 **Thank you all for the reviews! Nothing makes me happier than reading all of your thoughts on the story so far:)**


	13. What You Wanted

**A/N: Short author's note but here is the next chapter! Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 13: "What You Wanted"

Lucas knew he could catch Maya after her art class. He managed to leave his class early that period, telling his teacher that he wasn't feeling good and asked to go to the nurse. Reluctantly the teacher agreed. So Lucas took off towards the art room. He glanced through the little window in the door and spotted the messy of blonde hair he loved. It was tossed into a messy bun on top of Maya's head as she sat on her stool, dragging her paintbrush across the canvas in front of her. Zay sat next to her and Lucas could see them talking. Maya wasn't smiling. Her demeanor wasn't animated as she talked back and forth with Zay. As far as Lucas knew, Zay hadn't spoken to Maya all day, until now that is. He didn't know how Maya felt about the night before. If he had any clue it would be the behavior she displayed toward him that morning and the fact that she had been avoiding him all day. And that was not a good sign.

Lucas stood outside the classroom trying to think of what he would even say to her. Up until this weird moment, Maya and he had a system, a way of communicating that only worked for them. It was their thing. Lucas didn't know what to say now, though. When the bell rang, he still didn't know what he was going to say.

Students filed out of the room, pushing each other to get to their next class. Lucas kept his eyes peeled for the tiny blonde that he was waiting for. Zay came out before Maya and quickly spotted his best friend watching the door.

"What are you doing?" he asked, walking over to him.

"Waiting for Maya. I need to talk to her," he said back, keeping his eyes on the door.

"You might be waiting a second. She's still cleaning her area."

Lucas didn't care. He would miss his next class if he needed to, it was an elective that he didn't technically need anyway. "I don't care. I just need to talk to her. I need to find out what's going on," he answered.

"She's upset Lucas!" Zay told him. He wasn't about to tell Lucas everything she had just told him. Maya made him promise that he wouldn't. It did seem pretty clear that Maya was upset though. Even before talking to her, Zay knew she was upset. She had a right to be, at least in Zay's eyes. "Don't pressure her right now Lucas. Give her a second," he pleaded.

"Zay I just want to talk to her for a second."

Zay saw the determination in his eyes. Maybe it would be good for them to talk. Now wasn't the time, though. Searching his brain, Zay tried to figure out a way to talk Lucas out of surprising Maya right now. Nothing would stop that boy once he had that gleam of purpose in his eyes. Zay just shook his head and walked down the hall, leaving Lucas to wait for Maya.

It was a moment before Maya emerged from the classroom. She had lost track of time during class and by the time she realized what time it was, the bell was ringing. She cleaned as quickly as she could, but a part of her didn't care to rush too much. Eyes were still on her and she found solace in the empty classroom. People couldn't stare at her for a few minutes. It would all blow over and she knew that. Give it a day or two, that's what Zay said. People were just surprised and didn't know how to mind their own business. Maya knew Lucas would move onto a new girl soon. Then everyone else could find a new person to obsess over and stare at as they moved down the halls.

One last class to go before Maya could go home and be in peace with her paints. Her small feet shuffled out of the room. She didn't even notice the Huckleberry himself leaning up against the wall across from the classroom.

"Maya!" he yelled, looking up to notice her finally coming out. For a moment, he thought he would have to go in and get her rather than catching her outside.

Maya looked up, already knowing the voice. Her eyes narrowed at the boy she was currently pissed at. Without stopping her footing a beat, she walked right past him. Lucas would be lying if he said he didn't kind of see that coming.

"Maya come on! Will you talk to me for a second?" he begged, walking after her.

"Why?" Maya asked, her body flying around to face Lucas. "Why should I let you say anything to me?"

Lucas didn't completely understand why she was so upset. "Maya please just let me say something," he said, trying to remain calm, even though he really wanted to scream at her to just listen to him.

"You got what you wanted Lucas ok so just leave me alone!" Maya shouted. Most people had filed out of the halls by now and were inside classrooms. She didn't mind her voice being loud.

Right now, looking at Lucas, she was instantly reminded of the night before. She could remember the touch of his hands on her skin and the tingling sensation that ran threw her bones when his lips touched her neck. Shaking it off, she noticed her eyes were starting to get wet. Every emotion in the book was filling her up right now. But so much anger and sadness was finding its way into her bloodstream. She was angry at Lucas. No other emotion in her could replace anger as front and center.

"It's not like that Maya," Lucas said, filling the brief silence that was between them.

"Really Lucas? You expect me to believe that you didn't plan on sleeping with me this whole time?" she asked. The tone in her voice was dripping, soaking wet with an accusing sarcasm. Lucas wanted to deny that statement, but he knew he couldn't. If he did it would be a lie.

"Ok yeah… maybe… but that isn't-"

Maya cut off his words. "Did you really have to go and tell people about it?" The tears got more suffocating in Maya's blue eyes. Lucas stared at her in disbelief. He knew people were talking about them, but he was hoping it hadn't gotten back to Maya. And he was definitely hoping that she wouldn't blame him for everyone knowing. Not even Lucas knew where the knowledge had come from. The only person he told was Zay and god knows Zay loves Maya too much to hurt her by telling others. "Everybody's talking about it! But I'm sure you already know that."

"Maya I didn't-" Lucas tried to defend himself. Maya wasn't having it.

"Lucas you already got what you want!" she repeated. It was confusing to Maya why he was standing here talking to her instead of off somewhere finding a new girl. She didn't want the excuses, she didn't want Lucas trying to defend himself. She just wanted him to move on from ruining her.

"Maya will you please just listen to me for like 2 seconds!" Lucas yelled. His frustration was unreal as he ran a hand through his blonde hair. The small blonde was clearly hurt, but he wanted to fix it. He wanted to fix the hurt he caused her. For him, the night before was real. If she would just give him the chance to say one full sentence, then he could tell her that.

"You want to know why everyone always sees the worst in you?" Maya asked. Lucas didn't bother speaking. They had talked about this the night before and it was a sore spot for him. His curious eyes stared at Maya, eager and nervous to hear what she would say. "It's because you only show everyone the worst. You show them the worst so much that they don't even think there is a best! You are incapable of having a real connection with someone and you have no one to blame for it but yourself!"

Lucas's heart sank in his chest knowing that's what Maya thought of him. The smaller blonde wiped her eyes dry and turned to walk away from the boy that hurt her. Before walking away out of sight, she turned back to him.

"And you know what? You are exactly like your father," she said before turning and walking off around a corner.

Devastated and shocked, Lucas stood in his place for minutes after Maya was long gone. It hurt a lot more than he thought it would to hear Maya say that to him. Even Maya didn't understand how badly that statement would affect him. It was Maya who had him starting to believe that maybe he wasn't like his dad. But he managed to screw up badly enough for her to change her mind. The hurt in Lucas's eyes were starting to mirror the hurt that was present in Maya's as she walked down the hall angrily across school.

Every chance he got, Lucas would catch Maya's eye. He hoped to see a different emotion in them other than sadness but he never got it. Three days passed by and Maya still wouldn't give him the time of day. Zay refused to reveal too much information in respect to Maya. Lucas was dying to know, but he could pretty much guess what she was telling Zay. Maya spent lunches in the art room since Riley was still giving her the cold shoulder. _'Just give her time.'_ Farkle told her. But how much time did she need before she would come back to her best friend. Maya needed her.

People still looked at Maya in the halls. Not nearly as many. But they noticed the sadness and bitter emotions that sat on her face just as much as Lucas did. They all took an understandable assumption that Lucas had gotten her in bed and then dumped her. As far as Maya knew, that was exactly what happened. Lucas still didn't know how people even knew about what happened between Maya and him. Zay had no clue either, since he heard it from Lucas himself.

Sitting at his usual lunch table, Lucas wasn't as talkative as he normally was. He wasn't flirting with every cheerleader that made her way by the table. He was involved in the conversation but he wasn't the usual life of the party.

"Hey Lucas what's up?" one of his baseball teammates asked him from across the table. Lucas looked up from his burger to the boy. He just shrugged, pretending like nothing was wrong. "Wishing to get a round 2 with Hart?" Zay's head jerked up from looking down at his food at the mention of Maya's name.

"Yeah" Lucas muttered with a half-hearted chuckle. He was definitely hoping for something with the girl. Even just a conversation at this point he would take. Just the thought of Maya truly hating him was weighing down on him. This real hate, not just the annoyance she used to have of him where she would tolerate him and make jokes back at him, playing their little game. But now she didn't even want to look at him in the halls.

"God I'm just jealous you got a round 1 with her! It's not like most of us haven't tried," another teammate laughed. Lucas's fist tightened a bit under the table, but he was quickly able to calm himself down.

Zay's eyebrow arched and turned his gaze from his best friend to the baseball boys laughing across the table. "How did you guys even know about them?" Zay laughed, trying to sound casual. Lucas looked up at his friend. The brilliant bastard.

The boys looked between each other trying to remember the original source of the information. When one of the boys looked over, glancing around the room, he caught sight of the original source and it seemed to jog his memory.

"Billy told us!"

Lucas looked up at the approaching Billy. He and Lucas had become pretty fast friends since he arrived from Texas. He did pretty well with the girls in school, not quite as well as Lucas, but he, too, was making his way through the girls. Lucas got up from his seat and walked around the table to Billy as the latter set his lunch tray down.

"Billy," Lucas said casually.

"What's up Luke?"

"Did you tell people about me and Maya?" Lucas asked. Across the table, Zay looked on at the interaction with nervous eyes. He didn't know how Lucas was going to handle this situation. The blonde boy had a tendency to get pretty angry sometimes. Unfortunately, it was something he got from his dad.

Billy, not seeing beneath Lucas's fake smirk, laughed at the question. "Oh yeah! I heard you talking to Zay in the morning and I had to tell everyone!" Billy revealed. Zay prepared in his seat to have to jump up and hold Lucas back. "You're the first one to crack that safe. We had to celebrate for you," Billy laughed.

The unsuspecting boy laughed with the other guys at the table who agreed. Lucas rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, letting out some forced laughter. God he was trying so hard to calm down, but now that the truth was out, he felt his blood boil a little. No one expected it when Lucas suddenly lunged his fist forward and let it connect with Billy's face. Billy was on the ground quick and Zay was at Lucas's side just as quickly.

"What the hell Friar?!" Billy yelled from the ground, clutching his bleeding nose.

Everyone in the cafeteria turned to see the confusing scene unfold. But not much more happened as a teacher who was passing through the room.

"Lucas and Billy! Principal's office now!"

 **A/N: Now we know Billy told everybody! Did you guys think it was Zay? I had a couple reviews guessing that Zay told. Lol he would never do that! But will Maya find out the truth?**

 **FREAKING 'ART OF SEDUCTION' UPDATED! I can't even tell you how happy I was when I got the notification that she updated. Ugh I hope she keeps going and we get more updates quickly!**

 **One more quick update. I've recently been brainstorming like crazy to come up ideas for stories. If you follow my one-shot compliation story I'm sorry it hasn't been updated in a while. It's a combo of zero time and not much inspiration. I've got the inspo back, now just everyone cross your fingers that I'll get more time to sit and write soon! Thanks for always reading you guys! The absolute best!**


	14. Billy Did!

**A/N: ok I meant to have this up like 2 or 3 days ago but I kept forgetting every time I got home from work. So I'm so sorry! But here it is! The next chapter:) This is the last chapter with no Lucas/Maya interaction and then the next chapter is % them.**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 14: "Billy Did!"

"One muffin for the lady," Zay said in a cheerful voice, setting the small plate on the table in front of Maya. The blonde gave a smile as she started digging into her muffin. She hadn't eaten all day and she was starving. She was so happy when Zay asked her to go to Topanga's with him after school; his treat of course.

Zay took his seat across from Maya and sipped the icy cold liquid of his smoothie. He looked up at the blonde. Her melancholy demeanor hadn't changed much since the day after she and Lucas had slept together. Repeatedly he had tried to get Maya to hear Lucas out, but she never wanted to give Lucas the time of day. Even Zay got a cold shoulder whenever he brought up listening to Lucas. As far as Zay knew, Maya hadn't heard about the Billy incident from lunch earlier that day. He assumed that if she had heard, she would have made an effort to at least not avoid Lucas. Not that she would have had much as a chance. Lucas had gotten a detention for punching Billy during lunch. He had been in the principal's office for the rest of lunch and the period after.

"So where's your sidekick?" Maya asked out of nowhere. She didn't want to bring up the cowboy but he hadn't tried to intercept her by her locker after school like he had done for the past few days. It was a bit concerning. "He hasn't made awkward eye contact or try to force me to talk to him almost all day."

Zay thought for a minute if he should tell her the truth. Maybe Lucas wouldn't want her to know that it was Billy. But why wouldn't he? That would get him off the hook. Maya still thought it was Lucas who told everyone about their night together in order to brag about sleeping with her. This was the one thing that might finally get stubborn Maya to give Lucas any time of day. Zay still didn't understand the fixation his best friend seemed to have on his blonde friend but he didn't want either of them to hurt anymore.

"My sidekick is in detention," he smirked. Maya looked up from her half-finished muffin to the boy in front of her. Lucas told her once that he got his anger from his dad. Sometimes he couldn't control it, according to him. Sometimes it just came out so quickly he didn't even have time to stop it. Shaking off the worry about what Lucas could have done to land him in detention, Maya returned her face to its indifferent expression.

"What did Huckleberry do?" she asked. That nickname hadn't made its way out of her mouth in a few days. In her angry state, she just wanted to call him Lucas. The return of the nickname felt good on her lips.

Zay smirked before he let the words come out. "He punched Billy in the face."

Practically choking on her muffin, Maya couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Why would Lucas do that!?" she exclaimed. Lucas and Billy were good friends, Maya knew that. She suddenly worried that this anger had gotten the better of him and that he was in real trouble. Zay saw right through the calm and unconcerned act Maya tried to put on. She was worried about the boy she was supposed to be mad at, the boy she refused to talk to.

"Billy's the one that's been telling everyone about you and Lucas," Zay finally told her.

"And what?" Maya scoffed. "Lucas is surprised that the baseball buddies he chose to tell are telling everyone else?"

Zay was only faintly surprised that Maya had such little faith in Lucas. "Maya, Lucas didn't tell Billy," he said, setting the record straight.

Maya's head raised up as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Every fiber in her body told her that Lucas had been the center of all the rumors, well completely true rumors, which were swirling around school. Maybe there was one or two tiny spots in her mind that told her otherwise. Those pieces of herself were still holding onto the Lucas she got to know in private; the one she was so convinced was the actual real Lucas. _That_ Lucas wouldn't tell anyone. But after waking up with the boy that had made it clear in the beginning that he wanted to sleep with her over anything, she found it harder and harder to believe in _that_ Lucas.

"Zay what are you talking about?" Maya asked dumbfounded. Nothing was making sense right now.

"Billy heard Lucas and me talking. Lucas didn't tell anyone except me!" Zay seemed very passionate about getting this fact across to Maya. His best friend had never really done many things one would consider 'noble.' So the fact that he truly was going to keep his night with Maya to himself unless she wanted to reveal otherwise, seemed noble. Zay wanted him to have credit where it was due; he deserved to have Maya know the truth. Hell, Maya deserved to know the truth.

Maya, on the other hand, still didn't know how sure she was about this new knowledge. "You don't know that," she huffed, turning her attention back to the muffin she had neglected since hearing about Lucas's detention.

"Yes I do," Zay insisted.

"How do you know that?" the highly skeptical Maya asked.

Zay didn't answer right away. He didn't know how to get through to Maya. Looking into her eyes, he could tell she wanted so badly to believe him. She wanted to believe in the boy they both knew could be a little less than honest. But Zay didn't know how to convince her fully. After a deep breath left him, he leaned in closer to the blonde across from him, honest floating in his eyes. "Because he's my best friend. Because he went crazy on Billy when he found he was the one spreading it around school," he answered.

"You know what?" Maya asked with a blank expression. These words were the first ones she spoke after taking in Zay's answer for a couple minutes. Zay didn't ask her for a response; he just let her take it in while she cleaned the muffin crumbs from her plate. "It doesn't even matter that he didn't tell anybody. He still did a shitty thing," she said.

"He cares about you, Maya."

"No!" Maya exclaimed. "No he doesn't! Because he's selfish and it's about what he wants. It's always about what he wants," he demanded.

It was like a switch went off in her head. Thinking about Lucas now, trying to consider everything Zay was telling her, it made her suddenly think about how she felt when she heard the rumors about him and her. The hurt feeling filled her up until she was angry all over again. So maybe he didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it didn't matter what he did or didn't do when it came to the rumors. Maya couldn't let go of how badly she was hurt by him. In her mind, he wanted one thing; and he got it out of her.

"I know he's not always the greatest guy, Maya. But it's different with you," Zay tried to convince her.

Maya shook her head, prompting him to stop his words immediately. "He got what he wanted. And now it's done."

"But you-"

"No Zay!" Maya cried, actually fighting back some soft tears. "I don't want to talk about Lucas anymore." It was a blunt statement. Blue eyes deviated from Zay's direction. The hurt was obvious; as was the anger.

Zay let the subject drop reluctantly. Silence ensued for a couple minutes as Maya's eyes followed the paisley pattern on her plate and Zay's eyes stayed on her. He hoped she would turn her eyes up to him, say something, something about Lucas or their situation. But she wouldn't. She wouldn't because then she would get emotional, and emotions weren't her strong suit. After some silence, Zay got up and grabbed Maya's empty plate. He left, bringing the plates up to the counter and handing them to the barista standing behind it.

Back at the table, Maya closed her eyes. She couldn't tell when she got to this point. Lucas wasn't supposed to be this person, this person that had her fighting back oceans of emotions and water-works. It would be expected for it to be Josh. She had been in love with Josh as long as she could remember. That constant rejection from him was expected to keep her emotions on high. Things would make sense if Maya was sitting here getting emotional over him; but not Lucas. Lucas freaking Friar wasn't supposed to just come in one day and make Maya feel like this.

It was confusing and over-bearing for Maya to have all these conflicting thoughts about him. The last thing she needed was Zay trying to convince her that Lucas deserves a chance. Of course, she had kind of seen it coming. That was his best friend after all. He was naturally going to defend him, just as Maya would defend Riley on any given occasion, even if she was in the wrong. As much as she didn't blame Zay for trying to defend his best friend, the wound felt too fresh for Maya. She wondered to herself, even after Zay returned to the table, if she would ever forgive Lucas. And if she did forgive him, would she be able to give him a chance at friendship? She really did enjoy being around him after a while. They could have fun and talk and share things with each other. _'Is it possible to fake that kind of connection?'_ Maya thought to herself. Part of considered asking Zay why he had thought Lucas cared about her. But that would open up a Pandora's Box of 'Lucas' that she wasn't in the mood for. So she was left to wonder alone inside her head what Lucas felt for her or what their obvious connection meant.

Zay walked her home after a couple of hours with not much conversation. He kept giving a side-eye to Maya, worried if he had actually upset her by trying to talk up Lucas. When they were standing at the front stairs of Maya's apartment building, Maya was about to turn and leave Zay to go inside.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, pulling her arm back. "For defending Lucas?"

"No Zay I'm not mad at you. But I'm mad at Lucas," Maya sighed. "And I don't want to talk to him or about him and I don't want to give him a chance. Alright?"

Zay could see Maya fighting back emotions, maybe even tears. He gave a bleak nod to the blonde. To make sure her friend knew it wasn't him she was upset with, Maya pulled Zay into a hug. The arms around her felt safe, like even if his best friend hurt her, Zay never would. She pulled away after a while, giving a small grin, then disappeared inside.

Quiet tears rolled down her cheeks in the elevator going up to her apartment. She didn't want to cry over Lucas. But here she was. She decided it was just best to let the ears run out and then maybe she would be free of these daunting emotions. Maybe then she could stop having this weird feeling in the back of her mind and in the pit of her stomach of wanting Lucas here with her to stop her from crying like he had done the other night.

 **A/N: I love me some Zaya friendship! Needed to throw some into this story.**

 **Also some GOOD NEWS for those of you who also follow my one-shot compilation** ** _'Maya and Lucas, Lucas and Maya'_** **I will be updating today with a brand new one-shot! YAYYYYYYY:)**

 **I love reading all your sweet reviews! Please keep them coming! They make me so happy**


	15. Second Chances

**A/N: omg please don't hate me for taking so long to get this up! But here it is! And you guys will like this chapter;) the angst and the fluff lol**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 15: "Seconds Chances"

It had been another week since Maya had talked to Lucas.

She was barely even looking in his direction at this point. He had tried to be with another girl. It worked for him the past when he was upset over something. But not this time. This time, he barely got past making out with her for a while before making up an excuse to leave because he had gotten a taste of what it was like to have Maya, to be with her. Being with any other girl wasn't even close in comparison.

It had been another whole week of not speaking to Maya.

For Maya, it had been 4 days since her dad died.

She hadn't seen him in 10 years. She barely even knew him. So it was safe to say when she got the call, it wouldn't be crazy for her to not care so much. Instead, Maya took it pretty hard. Not even she was able to understand why. She wanted her mom, who was luckily able to take a day off work to lay in bed with her daughter. Her mom didn't understand why Maya was so upset by it all, but she didn't ask her. Maya wanted Riley, but she didn't call her. The thought of Riley not answering her call would be too much for the already emotionally exhausted teenager.

Dawned in all black, Maya sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes were dry, clear of tears, but her expression was sorrowful and grief-stricken. Kermit's new wife and the rest of his family had decided on a small funeral. Not much planning went into it. They just wanted it done and over with so they could move on with their grief. Her fingers twirled around in nervousness. It was a little odd, she felt, that the family invited her to the funeral. Maybe they thought she needed the closure. Maybe she did. Everything felt a little numb.

A tapping sound came at the window. Big blue eyes looked up confused. Making her way over to the window, Maya saw the messy blonde hair and warm green eyes of the boy that hasn't stopped invading her brain. She paused in front of the glass, unknowing if she wanted to even open it. His pleading eyes stared straight at her and somehow acted as enough to convince her to let him in.

"What are you doing here? I'm not in the mood today!" she asked, voice weak and tired, after she opened the window.

"I heard what happened," Lucas answered, his voice just as low.

"Did Zay tell you?" Maya questioned. She tried not to falter on the surface even though she felt suddenly so vulnerable. Although she told Zay about her dad passing, Zay didn't know all about her dad and their 'relationship', or lack thereof. Lucas knew all too much about it.

Lucas gave a weary nod. "Yeah." Slowly, he started climbing though the window sill and into Maya's room. Deep down, Maya knew she didn't want to stop him from coming in, even though she seriously considered it.

Maya stepped back some to give Lucas space to climb in. "So why are you here?" she asked with a sharp tone before his feet had even touched the carpeted floor.

"I wanted to come see you," Lucas answered. When he finally made his way into the room fully, he didn't take any steps towards Maya. His back stayed against the window. As much as he wanted to go up to her and hug her, he knew that would probably earn him some kind of punch from the small girl. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok," he said, his voice shaky, as if unsure if that statement was wise.

"I'm fine," Maya replied all too quickly. Her eyes avoided his and settled on the space on the floor in between them.

"No you're not Maya," Lucas said.

Maya's head shot up to look at Lucas. If her face held any other expression, he would have been happy that she was finally looking at him. "Don't Lucas!" she yelled, pointing her finger to the other blonde in the room. "You do not know me enough to tell me what I am or am not feeling. I'm fine!"

The look in her eye almost made Lucas regret coming. At first he was going to force Zay to come over and be with Maya so she wasn't alone. He knew her mom would probably have to be at work. He dreaded the thought of her being alone right now. Zay told him Maya was taking her dad's death pretty hard but Zay didn't know all Lucas knew about Maya and her dad. So he took it upon himself to go over and try to comfort Maya. Honestly, he was surprised he even got into the room. He went to Maya's with the assumption that she would probably scream at him for thinking it was ok to go to her house right now and then push him over the edge of the fire escape.

He didn't want to push anything, especially knowing how Maya felt about him right now. But he could tell she wasn't fine. Not even close. "Maya your dad died."

"He is not my dad!" Maya insisted, tears finding their way over the rims of her eyes.

"He's your father!" Lucas yelled back. Once again, Maya deviated her eyes from Lucas and just shifted her gaze around the room. Looking at him was too vulnerable for her right now. She was already too vulnerable with him. "Look Maya, my dad drives me crazy but I would still be effected if he died."

Maya crossed her arms in front of her chest, still finding it impossible to look at Lucas directly. "It's different Lucas. Your dad is here! I haven't seen my dad in like 10 years!" she screamed, her face turning pink. "Except once…. But that didn't end well. Ok Lucas it's just different."

"You're not fine. If you were fine you wouldn't be crying right now," Lucas pointed out as he watched her wipe tears from her pink cheeks.

"It's none of your business!"

Lucas took a beat to calm down. Maya did the same. Maya stood glancing around the room, trying like hell to figure out why Lucas was even here right now. Lucas glared at Maya. Blue eyes were now red-rimmed, the breath coming out of her was staggered and uneven. His mind went through any way to get her to let him in. Even if it was just for a minute to release and over-bearing emotion, he wanted her to let him in.

"Maya do you remember when you first met my dad and you asked me if I wanted to talk about it?" Lucas asked. His feet moved in tiny steps closer to Maya. To his surprise, she didn't step back.

"Yeah I remember. What about it?" Maya asked, pushing blonde away from her tear stained face.

Lucas stood less than a foot in front of the tiny girl now. She didn't move away, but her eyes chose to stare at the floor instead of up at him.

"You told me that if I didn't want to talk about it that you could just sit with me, so I wasn't alone. Well right now I know you don't want to talk about it. But we could do the second one. I could just sit with you," Lucas offered. Maya just stood there. The only clue Lucas got that maybe Maya was starting to believe him was the softening of her eyes. They were no longer angry or annoyed like they had been since she saw Lucas at the window. Now they were sad, just plain sad and hurting.

"I have to go to the funeral," Maya almost whispered.

"Then I'll go with you," Lucas said. The small girl looked up, eyebrows raised. Her mouth opened to speak but Lucas didn't give her the chance. "Maya I don't care what you say, I know you're not ok and I know you need someone with you. So we don't have to talk! But I'm not leaving you alone."

Maya's wheels were turning, thinking overtime. Going to the funeral sounded like a nightmare. Going to the funeral at all felt like it would be a nightmare, but alone was only going to be worse. Honesty filled the green eyes Maya had become very fond of, and if she's being honest she had missed them terribly. So she didn't fight it. She sat in the comfort of Lucas's presence for a moment before turning her sad eyes up to him.

"Ok…."

Lucas hadn't expected it to be this easy. But he didn't fight it. He didn't push it either. He didn't wrap her in his arms like he wanted to. He simply led her out the door and to his place so he could change into something more appropriate than the baseball tee and jeans he had on now. Maya wanted to wait in the lobby or even outside on the steps on the building, saying the cool air would help her to relax a bit. But Lucas insisted she come inside.

"My mom's not home. You won't be ambushed in there," he promised while they stood in front of his building.

Not wanting to cry outside in front of all the people passing by, Maya took Lucas up on his offer. But the thing about the cool air wasn't a lie. So Maya set herself up on the small wicker chair that the Friars had on their balcony. Her knees pulled into her chest, she tried to keep tears away. No doubt her eyes were a bright pink or even a deep red, but she didn't care. She just didn't want to keep crying. Lucas tried to change quickly. Once he felt he looked good enough, he carefully poked his head out of the balcony doors to ask Maya if she was ready. A moment passed when she didn't move or say anything back. It was as if she didn't even hear Lucas. He was about to repeat himself when Maya, without notice, jumped up from her spot with a sniffle and met Lucas at the doors, pushing past him to get to the front door of the apartment.

It was odd but Maya didn't cry at the funeral. Maybe she had already done all her crying. Between her dad and Lucas, and even not having Riley, she had done a lot of crying lately. She wouldn't be surprised at all if her body had just run out of tears completely. All the people around her seemed so upset about Kermit's death. They were crying and sharing stories of him with each other. It just made Maya madder. She didn't have stories of him to share, not good ones at least. Lucas could tell she was uncomfortable being there. He could tell she was upset and feeling a bit betrayed that her dad seemed to be a good man in these people's lives. All he ever was to her was the man who left her. Lucas tried to stay close without being overbearing. He didn't even know if his presence was helping at all. It wasn't until the sermon when he felt Maya's little hand reach over and clutch onto his that he knew she at least appreciated him being there. She clutched his hand like she was trying to keep from falling over the edge of a building. She didn't look over at him, but her hand didn't leave his until the funeral was over.

Kermit's wife asked Maya if she wanted to come back to their house for food, but Maya declined. She blamed it on the hour long drive back. She blamed it on not wanted to drag Lucas there. In reality, she couldn't stand hearing all those people saying what a good person Kermit was without either punching a hole in the wall or bursting into tears. It would probably be both. So Lucas just took her home. Maya didn't say anything when Lucas walked her up to her apartment and stayed silent when he walked into the apartment after her and closed the door behind him. She just stalked off to her room.

Lucas gave it minute before following her into her room. He walked in to see the blonde on her bed, curled up in the corner leaning against the wall. A t-shirt laying over the chair in the corner of the room caught his eye. He grabbed it and handed it to the sulking girl.

"You should change. I'll get you some water ok?" he instructed softly. Maya just grabbed the shirt from his hands and nodded. Making his way to the kitchen, he wondered if Maya was really going to change out of her uncomfortable looking funeral dress. She was still sitting on the bed when he left her bedroom. He walked back in to see her wearing the oversized Rolling Stones shirt and black pajama shorts. She was still sitting on the bed, still a blank but destressed look on her face.

Lucas set the glass of water down on the nightstand, but Maya reached over and grabbed it immediately, drinking the whole glass empty. Afterward, she just held the empty glass in her hand, spinning it around aimlessly. The green eyed boy sat down on the bed, not knowing exactly what to do.

"I don't want to talk about it Lucas," Maya said before he could even try to say anything to comfort her. "I don't want to talk about my dad and I don't want to talk about us."

It seemed the least he could do to satisfy her wish. She did just attend her father's funeral. So he just nodded his blonde head towards the Maya. "We don't have to talk about either of those things," he agreed. Even though all he wanted to do was talk about him and her. "We don't have to talk at all remember? I can just sit with you."

Some time passed with the two of them just sitting on the bed. Every so often, Lucas would turn to Maya and ask if she was ok. Just a nod was the general answer he would get. He wasn't very good at 'comforting.' He never was. Truthfully, he never really wanted to be; until now. He wanted to comfort Maya. Every fiber inside of him told him to hug her or hold her hand or say something that was remotely comforting. This was a new feeling to Lucas. His mind told him Maya needed to know he felt that way. As selfish as it might have been, he turned to Maya slowly to speak up. He was never very good at being comforting, but he was always pretty good at being selfish. Maybe Maya could help him with that, he hoped.

"Maya you know I didn't tell anybody about you and me," he whispered.

Maya didn't turn to him and instead kept her eyes on the hem of her bed spread that her fingers traced. "You said we didn't have to talk, Lucas," she reminded him with a tone.

"Well I need to talk to you about this," Lucas said back. Without warning, Maya suddenly started laughing. Her face fell into her hands as the amused laughter poured out. "What are you laughing at?" Lucas asked, confused.

"God it really is always about what you want! Why do you do that?" Maya asked, finally looking up at him. But her eyes weren't what Lucas would want them to be while looking at him. They were full of disgust and sorrow. The beautiful blue Lucas loved was tainted. And he knew he had caused it for himself.

Lucas didn't know what to say. "Maya you know I've done things for you," he spoke. His tone gave away the fact that he was trying to remain calm. But he had changed for her. Maybe with her just meeting him, she didn't fully realize how different he acted around her than with everyone else, especially with girls he hooked up with. Maya was something different. It killed him to know she didn't believe that.

Maya wanted to let out a chuckle once Lucas had spoken. Anger took over and forced the sarcastic laughter from her before it came out. He had tricked her and played her.

"Like what?" Maya yelled. Her form leapt off the bed and stood over the blonde boy. "Pretend you actually wanted to help me when really you're just trying to get into my pants? Oh I'm sorry Lucas you're right! Thank you for doing that for me. I stand corrected!" Maya yelled sarcastically. Lucas felt the fumes in him become too much and he stormed up from his seated position to tower over Maya. The small girl didn't back down. She took a few steps back, purely to put some distance between her and the boy she was fighting with, but her expression remained just as angry with her arms strongly crossed in front of her.

"Maya I didn't mean for that to happen!"

"Yes you did! Please don't lie to me Lucas, I'm not stupid!" The shouting match continued until that sentence. Lucas took a breath and calmed down, trying to find words to accurately describe how he felt. The only problem was that even he was still confused on what had happened and when his feelings for Maya took a turn past just sleeping with her.

"Whatever you were to me, it… changed somewhere in the middle," Lucas said.

"What does that even mean!?" Maya shouted. She tried to calm down as much as Lucas had, but she had a right to be angry. She had a right to yell and make a fuss. She was hurt, and she had a right to tell him exactly how she felt. "Lucas you don't know how to care about someone. You don't let yourself care about anybody but yourself! It's always what Lucas wants! And as long as Lucas gets what Lucas wants then you don't care who you hurt! You got exactly what you wanted from me so why are you still here!?"

The calm melted away from Lucas once again. "I care about you Maya!" he shouted, trying like hell to get it across to Maya.

"Bullshit!"

"I told you before that I never met a girl who was worth having a connection with. You're that girl! Ok Maya you're the girl who's worth changing for," Lucas confessed.

The thought hadn't occurred to him until right now. Right here, trying to rack his brain for anything to describe how he honestly felt about her, that's when he himself realized it. Maya was the girl who was worth it all, worth changing for, worth being better for. Lucas didn't know how to follow up that revelation. Maya didn't exactly know how to respond to it either. Both just stood, staring at each other. Each of their eyes more vulnerable than the other, they looked for a sign of reaction from the other person.

"What are you saying?" Maya asked first.

Taking little baby steps forward, Lucas answered the best he could. "Just give me a chance."

"I gave you a chance!" Maya burst. Lucas was stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the answer.

"No you didn't!" he said honestly. "You've treated me like scum since the second I've met you," he confessed.

Maya scoffed at the statement. "Are you saying you haven't acted like scum since the second I met you?" she laughed. Lucas ran a hand through his hair. Maya was right. He was an ass, but he felt he had made up for that a little bit after all those nights he sat with her in the bed next to them. A weird ping inside him told him to just do whatever it took to get Maya.

"No I have been," he agreed. "But please give me a chance. A second chance?" he begged. Honestly burned in his eyes. Maya would be lying if she said she didn't notice it. That and the pure vulnerability that surely matched her own gave him away. But something in her still hurt and it stopped her from trusting him anymore.

"Why the hell should I?" she asked.

Lucas continued his tiny steps towards Maya. He half expected her to step back and let the distance between them remain. But she stood sturdy in place, letting him approach her. She looked like she was getting emotional. The white around her eyes was gaining its pink back, seeming like she was holding back a few tears. Lucas wouldn't dare mention it though. In the moment, he knew how he felt about her. It all seemed to click in his head. A quick decision told him that now was the time for complete honesty. He decided to be more honest now with Maya than he had ever been before in his life, even with himself.

"Because I'm scared of never finding someone like you again. I'm scared of never finding a girl that makes me feel how you make me feel," he revealed. His voice cracked just a little bit, sending waves of acceptance through Maya. His honesty, the brutal honesty that Maya could tell was almost painful to get out, had broken though to her.

Blue eyes turned away, looking at different spots on the floor. "How do I make you feel?" she asked, her voice tiny and cracking like his did.

"Like I don't have to be the guy everybody else thinks I am," he started. It felt easier to get his feelings out this time around. It wasn't such a strain on his stomach. But he knew his eyes were probably gaining their own pink. In his mind he thought about Maya saying no to him now and how soul crushing that would be. After how honest and vulnerable he had made himself, he didn't know if he could fully rebuild his wall if she said no. "You make me feel like I could be the good guy. And I don't want to lose that. And I know that sounds selfish but Maya please just give me this chance to not screw up again."

He gained some hope when he saw those blue eyes look back up into his own eyes.

"You need me. I don't need you."

Lucas didn't believe her. He almost did. But her eyes weren't cold like he knew they would be if she had meant that. Instead her eyes were still sad, still vulnerable. He had knocked down his wall for her, now more than ever. He just wanted the same from her.

"Maya!" he exclaimed out of frustration. "I know you feel something for me!"

"You are so full of yourself!" she exploded.

"How many people have you told about your dad?" he asked without warning. Maya stuttered her way along after the question. Lucas knew the answer and Maya knew he did. It was impossible to deny how much she had opened up to him. She trusted him in a way that she didn't understand, not fully at least. "Because I know I've told all of 2 people about my dad: Zay and you. Deny it all you want Maya but I know you feel this connection that we have."

Maya turned her back to Lucas. Her fingers ran through the sides of her hair, eyes rolling in her head. "There is no connection!" she tried to deny. 'Tried' because even when she didn't feel she could trust him, there was always something there. Just like Lucas had said, she could deny it all she wanted, but she knew she felt it.

"Fine. Then why did you let me go with you today?" Lucas asked.

"You refused to leave!"

"Maya we both know that if you really didn't want me here you would've rather pushed me back out the window than let me stay," Lucas admitted.

Maya's body shook with anticipation. She was running out of excuses and denial altogether. "Fine! Maybe I feel a little something for you," she finally admitted. Lucas showed a glimmer of hope in his eyes as a small smirk grew on his face. "But you lied to me! And you used me! And humiliated me!"

The smirk on the teen boy's face faded away at the realization of what he had done. Regret flushed through him like a fire that wouldn't let him have calm.

"Maya I promise I won't screw up this time," Lucas said in almost a whisper. He wanted to make his voice strong so Maya could know he was serious. But he felt like breaking. His voice couldn't seem to build beyond the low, cracking volume that it was at now.

"Lucas, you hurt me," Maya said honestly. Not completely understanding how he managed to do it, especially now, Maya felt Lucas breaking down the sky high wall she had built inside herself. The bricks were crumbling to pieces to the sound of his words and the weight of his honesty. The eye contact between them broke as Maya felt the need to be brutally honest, but felt already too vulnerable. His green eyes were too deep to look into with her next words. "It scares me that you could hurt me that much. It scares me that anybody could hurt me that much. I can't be hurt like that again. I wouldn't be able to take it," she cried.

Maya didn't notice Lucas close the space between them with his soft steps. Her eyes still didn't make their way up to his, even when his hand carefully pushed blonde hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"Look at me," Lucas requested. It took a minute, but Lucas waited patiently until finally their eyes connected. Both slightly pink rimmed and broken, green irises met with blue ones. "I promise you I'm not going to hurt you again. I want to be better for you. I want to be the good guy."

Inside, Maya was screaming. Screaming at the fact that she didn't want to trust the boy in front of her. But at the same time, she kind of did trust him. She couldn't help but see some of herself in his, in his eyes. She could see the regret and the desire to fix what he did. The sincerity in his words was obvious to her. This wasn't the first time she had seen it though. Maya had trusted Lucas before and she got hurt. The last thing she wanted was to feel that type of hurt again. This was a risk to take. The only question now was if Maya was ready to take that risk.

"Those are nice words Lucas. They really are and we both know you're really good at being charming," Maya spoke with a weak laugh. "But I don't know if I can give you another chance."

"Then do me a favor?"

"What?" Maya furrowed her brows in confusion, rubbing her eye clear of a tear that was stuck in the crease.

"We agreed you owed me a non-sexual favor for helping you with Josh," Lucas smiled. He had one chance. One chance to get Maya back in his corner.

Maya seemed a bit confused at what seemed to be a subject change. At first, Maya assumed Lucas was giving up on trying to get her back and was just going for his favor. It seemed like typical selfish Lucas. "What do you want?" she asked quickly.

"A date," Lucas said with seriousness. If Maya was being straightforward, she would admit that it was a relief that he wasn't giving up on her that easy. Trust would be hard to gain back, but it felt nice to not be given up on. "Just one date. One real date with me and if after that you still want nothing to do with me or you still don't want to trust me, then I'll leave you alone. I promise. But just one real date."

"I'm not having sex with you on this date," Maya stated after a minute of thinking.

Lucas grinned, even though inside he was pretty upset with himself for being the type of guy that needs to be told that in all seriousness. "I don't care Maya! I don't care if we have sex or not. And I've never said that to a girl before!" Maya let out a little laugh. Music to Lucas's ears, especially after having seen her only cry for a while now. A genuine smile spread across his face. "Just please? One chance, one date."

Silence. As much as he tried, Lucas couldn't read the blue eyes in front of him. It could go either way. She could say yes just as easily as she could say no. Lucas practically shook with anticipation and nerves. He fought the strong urge to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she answered him. Maya looked at Lucas; she looked away at the wall; she glanced down to stare at her feet; then she looked back up at him. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside her head. Then her gaze settled on Lucas.

"One date," Maya finally answered.

 **A/N: Next chapter is the date! So you guys will love it. I only hope the date goes alright;) I will try my very very hardest not to take forever to update the next chapter! But please please review. The more reviews I get, the quicker I will get the next chapter up**


	16. Ferry Rides and Ice Cream Sandwiches

**A/N: Date chapter! Enjoy loves:)**

 **I don't own GMW, I just own the plot of this story.**

Chapter 16: "Ferry Rides and Ice Cream Sandwiches"

It was Thursday night. The night Maya and Lucas had agreed on for their date. At first, Maya had herself convinced she was just doing this to get Lucas off her back. She thought the night would come and she wouldn't care. It was just something she would want to get over with quickly.

But it was Thursday night, just a few minutes from the time Lucas was supposed to come and pick her up. Maya found herself in her fourth outfit change, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to get the waves in her gold hair just right. She found herself caring very much. Suddenly she didn't just want to 'get it over with,' but she was nervous for how it would turn out. She knew she wanted it to go well, she wanted Lucas to succeed in proving to her that she was right about him maybe not being the asshole he acted like all the time. One deep breath after another escaped the nervous blonde until she decided her hair was as good as it was going to get, even though there was one little strand of baby hair sticking up in the front that seemed to be mocking her.

 _Knock knock knock._

Maya stopped dead in her tracks on the way back to her room when she heard the sound at the front door. Right on time. She quickly gathered herself enough to scurry to her room and grab her jacket and purse. By the time she reached the front door, her world was spinning too fast to see. What was she doing? Going on a date with the guy who all but broke her just a couple weeks ago seemed a bit crazy, even for Maya. She opened the door, planning on telling Lucas the deal was off and for him to go home. All of that went away when she opened the door to the handsome blonde standing there with a small grin and a nervous look in his eyes.

"Hey," he said simply. Maya could see him attempt to shake off his nervousness, at least the visible nervousness anyway. She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked him up and down. He looked as good as he always did with a blue ¾ sleeve shirt framing his muscles perfectly.

"Hi," Maya replied back. She seemed to forget all about her plan to cancel the date. Maya waited for Lucas to say something charming like he always did, but he instead just stood there smiling like a dopey moron. It made Maya's small smile grow bigger, which somehow acted as enough to snap Lucas out of his daze.

Lucas rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and broke his eyes away from the girl in front of him reluctantly. "You ready to go?" he asked. Maya just nodded and stepped out, closing the door behind her.

"So where are we going?" Maya wondered out loud while in the elevator going down to the lobby.

"I have an idea," he smiled.

Maya stared at him in curiosity, but he turned his head away, wanting to keep the secret. Maya followed closely to Lucas since she had no idea where they were going. It was easy to feel oddly comforted by Lucas's strong hand on her back guiding her through the crowd and down into the subway. During the subway ride, Maya truthfully didn't even notice her hand resting on Lucas's knee. It felt too natural for her to notice. Lucas couldn't help but notice. He focused on that so much that he almost missed their stop. He grabbed Maya's hand and pulled her up, wanting to get off the train before the doors closed. He was a bit disappointed when she pulled her hand away once they were up the stairs of the station. But he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Lucas led Maya down streets and around corners until they were just a couple minutes from where they were going. It was surprising to him that Maya hadn't caught on to where they were heading yet. But he didn't know she was busy focusing on how much she wanted to put her hand back in his. She kept waiting for him to put his hand on the small of her back like he had done before they got on the subway, but he kept his hand at his side, sometimes sticking it in his pocket to protect it from the chilly air.

"Ok close your eyes," he instructed, stopping Maya before she turned a corner.

Her eyebrows raised, then she got a nervous feeling in her gut, thinking of what happened last time Lucas told her to close her eyes. "Excuse me?" she asked, clearly suspicious.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Lucas asked.

"No."

"Good. It's supposed to be a surprise. So close your eyes and keep them closed until we get there," Lucas smirked.

Maya didn't know what to do. Inside her was an overwhelming urge to see exactly what he planned. "You're on thin ice Friar," she smiled sarcastically. She closed her blue eyes slowly, giving into the trust she wasn't even sure she really had in Lucas right now. Strong hands gently covered her closed eyes to further ensure that she wouldn't peak. Which was probably smart on Lucas's part because Maya had every intention of peaking.

"Just trust me ok," Lucas said behind her.

Maya had no comment on that one. Regardless, she let him guide her through the streets. It was a longer walk than she thought she was going to be doing blind, she'll admit. But it was undeniable that she felt safe with Lucas right now. He wouldn't be going through all of this if he didn't want her to truly trust him. Maya came to terms with that somewhere between agreeing to this date and now. People say that when you lose one sense, all your other ones heighten. At least Maya thought she had heard that somewhere once. So after a while of walking and Lucas repeatedly telling her that they were almost there and asking if she was ok, Maya could feel a heavy scent of salt hit her nose. The air picked up a bit and felt a little chillier than it had before, too. Just as a familiar horn sound went off in the distance, Lucas stopped in his tracks.

"You ready?" he asked. Maya nodded quickly. She desperately wanted to gain her sight back. Without wasting a moment, Lucas lifted his hands off of Maya's face and she let her eyes flutter open. She looked around to see that the salt smell was that of the harbor and the horn sound she couldn't place before was a ferry horn going off. In front of them sat a ferry that was lit with multiple rows of string lights.

"What are we doing?" Maya asked.

Lucas turned towards her, taking a second to admire the tiny grin he noticed was growing on her face. "You once told me that you never got to go on the ferry and that you really wanted to. So I'm taking you," he explained. It took Maya a second to recall the conversation he was talking about between them that mentioned a ferry and her hope of riding on it at some point.

"I didn't so much 'tell you' as much as I 'mentioned it' for like .5 seconds. How do you remember that?" she laughed.

"Honestly I have no idea! I usually don't really listen to anything a girl tells me. But you… you I always seem to want to listen to," he grinned. Lucas suddenly felt very cheesy when that sentence came out. Maya looked away to conceal an ear-to-ear grin that was plastered on her face. It hadn't lessened when she looked back up at Lucas. "What?" he asked, never really having seen that grin on her face pointed at him. Maybe at Josh, but never at him.

Maya shook her head gently. "Nothing," Maya murmured. Her head was about to turn away when she felt a familiar, strong hand press to her back. Lucas led her to the ferry that was loading its last few passengers on. "So where exactly are you taking me on my first ferry trip?" Maya asked playfully.

"Long Island," Lucas answered, taking Maya's hand to help her as she stepped up onto the ferry. There was a vacant little bench on the side of the boat. Most passengers had gone inside to avoid the cold harbor air. But Maya eyed the little bench, wanting to sit outside and enjoy the ferry. Lucas followed her over, watching as the wind blew gently threw her hair, and explained the rest of the date. "There's an ice cream place on Long Island that makes brownie ice cream sandwiches."

Maya's face lit up immediately at the idea of a scoop of ice cream between two warm brownies. Her demeanor matched that of an excited child as the ferry boat pulled away from the dock and set off toward Long Island. Maya sat and watched the city lights go by. Not many words were spoken but Lucas didn't mind. He just admired her admiring the city. He could only imagine that she would paint or draw that landscape as soon as she got home. Maya was thinking the same thing. She had never seen the city like this before. It was beautiful. The city soon became hidden behind a cloud of fog once they got closer to Long Island. Maya turned to Lucas to see him already staring at her. Somewhere along the line, the two started talking. It was about how she was liking the ferry and what each of their favorite parts of the city were and how New York was different from Texas. Both of them barely even noticed when the ferry came to a stop at the Long Island harbor.

Getting off the ferry, Lucas's hands hung at his sides, just trying to remember which way the directions he had looked up earlier told him to go to get to the ice cream shop. Busy trying not to get them lost, Lucas didn't spot Maya's eyes hover on his hand as it hung at his side. Her blue eyes held a deep desire to grab his hand in hers and grip it tight. She wasn't sure what was stopping her. It was probably the little memory she had in the back of her head of how much he had hurt her. While Lucas led them through the island, Maya struggled with an inner battle of whether forgiving him was going to be impossible, or just hard but doable.

Instead of giving into her wants, Maya tucked her hands into her jacket pockets. Just as they walked into the ice cream shop, Maya was telling Lucas about a 'traumatic' zoo accident Riley had at the Central Park Zoo when they were little and how Maya hadn't been able to go back since. Lucas laughed so hard he could barely control himself enough to tell the woman behind the counter what he wanted. Maya couldn't believe how much he was able to get out of her. He had a way of making her feel so comfortable talking, like she had known him her whole life. At least as long as she had known Riley or Farkle. This wasn't the first time he had managed to make her feel that way. She was only momentarily distracted from her awe in how comfortable she was by the smell of brownies in the air.

"Do you want your normal cookie dough ice cream?" Lucas asked, breaking Maya out of her brownie sniffing trance. She nodded and was secretly a bit impressed that he remembered her favorite ice cream flavor.

"I'm going to need to move a lot closer to this place," Maya laughed, still enjoying the powerful chocolate scent.

Lucas laughed. "You look like you're enjoying yourself so much, you might just skip moving closer and move into this actual shop," he teased.

Maya made a sarcastic smirk before lightly shoving the boy next to her. He still laughed, watching her push her messy hair over her head. The woman behind the counter, whose eyes hadn't left them yet as they teased each other, walked back over and handed them their ice cream sandwiches. "Thank you Huckleberry," Maya whispered, eyes not leaving the mouth-watering food in her hand.

"You two are adorable together," the lady behind the counter commented. Lucas didn't know how to react. He could just picture his cheeks flushing red as she spoke those words to them. Just as he was about to stutter his way through an awkward 'oh we're not together' speech, Maya's smooth voice rang out.

"Thank you," she smiled to the lady. She hardly even waited for Lucas to process what just happened before turning to the door of the shop. Lucas caught up with her just outside. He watched her dig into her sandwich without one ounce of awkward air, like the ice cream lady hadn't said anything about them being 'together.' Lucas decided against making any comment about it and just smiled, starting in on his own sandwich.

The two picked a seat on a bench by the docks to finish their sandwiches and wait for the next ferry. Maya seemed quiet, but content, eating the final pieces of her sandwich before the ice cream had even melted. Lucas seemed to barely touch his, getting lost in the swirling blue eyes of the girl next to him. She didn't even notice the dumb grin plastered to his face as she ate. He shook himself free of the admiring gaze and worked double time to finish his ice cream as quickly as Maya did. It was another half hour before the ferry pulled up to the dock. Lucas helped Maya on like he did the first time and Maya, again, chose to sit on the little bench on the ferry deck to see the city through the fog. It was a little while before the boat got through the fog enough to see the city. Lucas got as much conversation in as he could before he knew Maya's attention would turn to the city and his words would bounce right off her ears.

"Thank you Huckleberry. That was actually really fun," Maya said later when the two were in the elevator going up to Maya's apartment floor in her building. "But I'm sure you've had tons of practice with the whole 'date thing,'" Maya laughed.

Lucas wasn't entirely sure if he was supposed to take that as an insult, but he didn't. He just got a chuckle in and followed Maya from the elevator down the hall to her door. When they finally got to the door, Maya had no urge to go inside. She instead wanted to stay out there with Lucas. Her back leaned against the door, showing no sign of even wanting to go in.

"I don't do 'dates,' Maya," Lucas admitted. Truthfully, he had never been on any real dates. Well, maybe a couple of times, but he barely counted those as _real_ dates. This, what he and Maya did tonight, that was a _real_ date.

"What's so special about me?" Maya asked. She couldn't help but notice his green eyes drift off, seeming to think. But when they looked back into her blue ones, they didn't look any less thoughtful.

"I don't know," Lucas came clean with a smile. "You just… are special, Maya."

It suddenly seemed like ages to Maya since Lucas had hurt her. She didn't see that guy tonight. All night, it had just been the Lucas that Maya liked to think only she got to see. The kind, real grin and the honest eyes were present since the blonde boy picked her up at the beginning of the night.

Without saying a word, Maya dug her keys out of her purse. Lucas was preparing to say goodbye and watch her disappear into the apartment only to wonder if she would give him the full second chance. Maya's eyes watched the keys jangle around in her hands in front of her. Lucas's eyes followed in her lead.

"My mom's not going to be home until morning I think," Maya burst all of a sudden, like if she didn't say it immediately then she wouldn't be able to say it at all. "Do you want to come in? Keep me company?" she asked, her eyes narrowed to his.

"If you would let me," Lucas smiled. Maya wasn't sure of her request until just this moment. The kind smile on his face was enough of an assurance that letting him wouldn't lead to something she would regret. Not like last time. Maya nodded her head, not knowing exactly what to say in response to his answer. Lucas watched intently as she turned around and unlocked the door, swinging it open to reveal her empty apartment.

Nervous as hell, Lucas followed the blonde girl inside. Her face couldn't hide the fact that she was just as nervous as him. Her hands turned around each other in front of her. Lucas shoved his in his pockets while he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with them. "I think we can both calm down you know," Lucas stated.

It took a moment for Maya to realize they were both being so tense and awkward. But in reality, they had been together before. The two of them had hung out, had normal conversations. They had been together in this apartment and talked and were just with each other normally. Neither of them saw why that had to change now, just because of the simple fact that they had just come back from a date.

"Yeah. Yeah ok," Maya smiled.

The blonde girl led the way to her room and the two settled into a familiar beat. A movie was put on the TV, Maya put on comfortable clothes, and the teens got content on the bed, skin barely touching on the tiny space. Everything was quiet for a while. Then Lucas made a comment about the movie and everything snowballed. The two couldn't stop talking. The movie ended after a couple hours but it didn't derail the conversation even for a second.

They talked about serious things like their fears and how they think the world was made, trusting each other with real emotion. Then they talked about lighter topics, like their favorite bands and which _F.R.I.E.N.D.S_ character they would be. Their bodies shifted closer naturally until Maya's legs were thrown completely over Lucas's lap and his hand rested on top of them. Neither noticed the moon shifting in the sky outside. Not even the pale sunlight peeking through the clouds seemed to alert either of the blondes during their laughter, Maya's delicate hand touching the strong chest of the boy in front of her. A sudden sound of beeping went off and both the teens jumped in their seats.

"Oh my god," Maya exclaimed, grabbing her phone and realizing what the sound was. "Lucas this is my school alarm. It's 6 AM!"

Lucas picked up his own phone off the foot of the bed when he discarded it earlier after showing Maya pictures of him as a kid riding Judy the sheep. "Shit we've been up all night," he chuckled.

Maya's head leaned back against the wall behind her. Her legs were a bit sore from being in the same position for so long, but she didn't want to move them and risk losing the calming touch of his hands just above her knees. "We have to go to school," she sighed, trying to prepare to move off the bed.

"Or we could just not go," Lucas suggested.

"Ditch? Are you serious?"

"Oh come on it's not like you've never ditched before?"

Maya laughed, knowing full well that she had ditched before. "What would we even do?" she asked with a smirk, enjoying the sensation on Lucas's thumb stroking her thigh.

"I don't know about you but I'm pretty tired. We have been awake all night. Maybe we could start by sleeping," he smiled. He wasn't sure how Maya would take his suggestion. Would she think he was just trying to share the bed with her? Maya was quiet and still for a moment, making Lucas even more nervous. But then just when she was about to speak, she released a tiny yawn. "I guess that's my answer."

"Fine. We'll ditch. As long as I get to go to sleep," Maya responded. She had reservations about spending the whole day with Lucas, but something in her told her to just go for it. She wanted to. After spending the entire night just talking like they had known each other forever, Maya had a sense of trust in Lucas.

Reluctantly and slowly, Maya moved her legs from Lucas's lap and moved them to under her covers. She didn't even bat an eyelash when Lucas moved his body underneath the blankets as well, settling in close to her so he didn't teeter over the edge of the bed. Just as his voice was about to ring out and ask if she was ok with him being there or if she would rather he go rest on the couch, he felt Maya's head being laid softly on his chest. His eyes moved down to see a mess of blonde hair lay over him and the girl it belonged to rest her hand on his chest as well. Not wanting to scare her, he slowly wrapped one arm around her, hugging her gently. He didn't say anything; neither did Maya. They both let their eyes close, giving into sleep quickly before thoughts even had a chance to reach their minds.

 **A/N: Did that date turn out the way you guys thought it would? Next chapter is with a little Riley so stayed tuned! Thanks so much for reading! Review you guys please!**


	17. She's Your Best Friend

**A/N: I cannot tell you how many times I was meaning to get this up and then forgot… But here is the next chapter!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 17: "She's Your Best Friend"

Just a little ways past noon, Maya awoke in her bed. The sun was shining bright through her window and into her room. Blue eyes fluttered open slowly to see an empty space next to her in her bed. Her head immediately popped up to look around the room for the blonde headed boy who fell asleep next to her hours ago. There was no sign of him. Listening carefully, she listened to hear any sign of him elsewhere in the apartment, like the kitchen or bathroom. No sound came except the sounds of the street below her. The blonde sat straight up in her bed, pushing her hair over her head.

"I knew it," she whispered to herself under her breathe. She didn't want to think it, but the horrible thought kept creeping back into her head that he had let her down again.

Slowly, she crawled out of bed, wanting to get out of the apartment for a bit and think. Her feet dragged along the floor. _'How could I be so stupid?'_ she thought to herself as she made her way through the hallway. Her thoughts swirled in her head. Curses were muttered at Lucas and then at herself, back and forth over and over.

Entering the living room, Maya looked up to see the front door swing open. Upon a quick glance she thought it would be her mom finally getting home from work. Her mind raced to think of an excuse for being home in the middle of the day when she should be at school. But then she caught sight of someone who was much taller than her short mother. Lucas came walking in the door casually.

"Lucas?" Maya asked. Lucas looked up with a smile.

"Hey. I was hoping to be back before you woke up," he declared, walking into the apartment. Maya took notice of the bags in the boy's hands and arched her eyebrow up in confusion.

"Where did you go?" she asked curiously.

"I got us food!" Lucas announced, lifting the food bags like it was an obvious answer. Maya just stared in disbelief as Lucas set down the bags on the coffee table. He looked up at her minorly shocked face. "What?"

Blonde hair flew around as the short blonde shook her head, trying to compose herself. "Nothing," she spit out. "I just… I thought you left." She couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable as she was revealing to Lucas that she was scared he left her again.

Lucas's eyes softened even more than they were before when he heard the quiet revelation. "Maya I told you I wouldn't hurt you again," he promised.

"I know," Maya's quiet voice came out, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. I should've left a note or something," Lucas quickly apologized. His form soon stood directly in front of the much shorter blonde. His hands reached up to stroke the crossed arms of Maya, trying to calm her. "I told you, I'm new to all of this."

Lucas quickly felt a smile on his face when the sound of Maya's little laughter creep into his ears. "I know," Maya smiled. "I'm just being crazy." Lucas shook it off just as fast.

"So you forgive me?"

Maya was about to nod, but caught sight of the bags on the table over Lucas's shoulder. "Depends on what's in those bags," she teased, eyeing them.

"Tacos."

"Then you're very forgiven!" Maya chirped. On her tip-toes, she pressed a little kiss to Lucas's cheek as a thank you. She didn't even know what pushed her to do it. It almost felt natural. Lucas wasn't expecting it, but welcomed it.

He watched as Maya made her way around him and to the bags of food, looking to see what kind of tacos he had purchased for their lunch. He watched as she took her pick of the bunch and plopped herself down on the couch. Her hand patted the seat next to her with her eyes stuck on Lucas, instructing him to take a seat. Without wasting a second, he did just that before reaching over and grabbing his own tacos from the bag.

A couple hours passed by with the two laughing at the shows on the TV and Maya reaching over to steal little pieces of fallen taco meat from Lucas's plate to plop into her own mouth. Maya's head was resting comfortably on the taller boy's shoulder. An episode of Full House, apparently Maya's guilty pleasure, was about to end and Maya was more than ready to start a new one. Lucas's body suddenly shifted, which at first Maya didn't think too much of. But then his body lifted completely.

"Shortstack, as much as I love laying here with you, and trust me I do, I have to go home and shower. And I have practice tonight," he sighed.

As disappointed as she was that her new favorite pillow was leaving, she felt a little bad. He hadn't slept that long with them being up all night and he still had practice later. She nodded her head understandingly. It wouldn't kill her to jump into the shower herself. "If you're going to see Zay tonight would you ask him if he has my homework for today?"

"Wouldn't Riley have all your homework?" Lucas asked. It didn't occur to Maya that Lucas wouldn't know about the falling out she and her best friend had. They still weren't talking. There was attempt on Maya's part, but nothing was getting through to Riley. This must have hit her really hard.

Maya frowned as she pulled her messy hair into a ponytail on the top of her head. "Yeah I wouldn't count on that right now."

"Why would you say that?" Lucas asked, reclaiming his seat next to Maya on the couch.

"She's not exactly my biggest fan at the moment," Maya explained. "We had this huge fight and she's not talking to me."

"You two are best friends. What would you fight about?" he asked. Maya, of course, had told Lucas countless things about Riley. How could she not after all the long talks the two blondes had already shared together. It was evident how much love Maya had for the happy brunette. Lucas couldn't imagine what those two could fight about so intensely that they wouldn't speak to each other.

A nervous look sat on Maya's face, as she knew full well that the fight was about Lucas. "About you," she replied anxiously told him. Lucas's eyes immediately turned to saucers when her words came out.

"About me? Why would you fight about me?"

Frustration flooded through the short girl and she covered her face with her hands. A long sigh released from her mouth before she looked back up at Lucas. "Because I lied to her. I lied to her about you and me, I told her to stay away from you because you weren't a good guy!" Maya ranted. "Then she when she heard the rumor about me and you sleeping together she assumed you and me were sneaking around behind her back. She thinks I told her to stay away from you because I wanted you for myself. She refuses to let me explain and she's completely ignoring me!" Maya looked away from the green eyes in front of her. They were much too full of understanding. Honestly, she couldn't take it. It made her feel bad that she was so harsh on him before when she talked to Riley. Actively trying to remind herself that he was that guy before, at least to everybody else he was. "I miss my best friend."

Lucas was stricken with a guilt he had never felt before. He felt so at fault for what happened. Even though he wasn't the one who told everyone about what he and Maya had done, he felt at fault. "Maya I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be. It's not your fault," Maya sighed. It wasn't his fault. He didn't do anything, not really. Well, kind of. But regarding Riley, it wasn't truly his fault. Maya shook off the sadness, not wanting to see Lucas blame himself for her fight with Riley. "You go home and get ready for practice. You need to get a couple more hours of sleep," she laughed, running her fingers through his hair, which was equally as messy as hers.

"I'll call you after practice ok?" he smiled, kissing her forehead.

Even making his way out the door, Lucas hadn't dropped the situation between Maya and Riley. He wasn't planning on dropping it any time soon. Hatching a little plan in his head, he made his way home as quick as he could. He showered, like he told Maya he would do. But he didn't listen to her on the accord that he didn't sleep some more. To be honest, his eyes were turning a little pink from lack of sleep. But he had to fix what he believed he broke. Even if he didn't break it, he knew he had some part in helping to break it. He had just enough time to make a little pit-stop and talk to a certain someone.

He stood outside the school, waiting to see the brunette he was looking for exit the building. Finally, after thinking maybe he had missed her, he saw her form walk out of the front door. He waiting for her to walk down the front steps before getting her attention.

"Riley!" he shouted. Riley turned her head to spot Lucas waving at her. At first, she was uncertain of what he was doing.

"Hey Lucas," she replied nervously. She stood in her place, letting the blonde instead walk to her. Part of her was nervous that he wanted to talk to her about Maya. She didn't want to talk about Maya. Sure she missed her best friend, but even thinking about talking to or about her made Riley suddenly feel the betrayal she felt rise up inside of her again. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you about Maya," Lucas mentioned. As soon as that word came out of Lucas's mouth, Riley turned, ready to go home. "Wait! Riley just let me talk for a second!" he asked, pulling back the brunette by her arm.

Riley just shook her head, keeping her eyesight on the ground. "I do not want to talk about Maya, Lucas! Just leave me alone!"

"God she's just like you sometimes. Why are you being such a brat about it?" he shouted. Riley stepped back and Lucas could see the naivety and hurt in her eyes. This was exactly what he was trying not to be anymore.

"Excuse me?"

A hand ran through Lucas's hair, frustrated. "Look, Riley I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. But…-" he paused. There had to be a way to make her understand what Maya was trying to do. "But I'm asshole. It's kind of my thing. Or at least it _used_ to be. Well… I hope it _used_ to be. I don't know," he trailed off. Changing was fucking hard.

Riley didn't understand the mumbles of the boy in front of her. Her forehead began to crinkle in utter confusion. "What are you talking about?" she said in a voice that, to Lucas's surprise, was actual very soft. "You're not an asshole."

"Yes I am," Lucas chuckled in response. "I am and Maya lied to you to protect you from that. She wasn't going behind your back to get with me. Trust me that was the farthest thing from her mind."

"Then what were you two doing?"

"It's kind of a long story and I'll tell you later. But if you're not going to trust me, you need to trust your own best friend. Yes, Maya and I had sex. But that wasn't her original intention. And then I went and broke her heart. And that feeling is _exactly_ what she was trying to keep you from feeling." As Lucas went on, he felt worse and worse about what he had done. This whole new remorseful feelings thing he was going through lately was horrible. But there was a tiny blonde back at her apartment that he had undeniable feelings for that was worth it. "I like her Riley. I really, really like her."

"Well I don't blame you, she's pretty great," Riley mumbled under her breath.

Lucas couldn't help but chuckle at her words. "Yeah she is. I don't beg anybody ever, but I'm begging you right now. You need to forgive Maya. Or at least talk to her. I know whatever it is Maya and I are going to be or trying to be isn't going to work out if she thinks us being together is going to break the two of you," he requested.

Riley just looked at the blonde. She used to think he was trustworthy, but she didn't even know him. Now she wasn't sure if she could trust him. No doubt, Maya was feeling the same way, both with what happened with Lucas already and her lifelong trust issues. Riley couldn't deny how much she wanted to be with her best friend who probably wanted to talk about so much. She suddenly felt so selfish not giving Maya a chance to explain before. After a deep breath, she spoke. "I'll talk to Maya on one condition. From you," she said strongly.

Admittedly a bit scared for what the condition could be, Lucas nodded his head. "Name it."

"If you break her heart one more time, you let me kill you," she smirked. Lucas burst out laughing, thinking about this tiny, petite brunette in front of him 'killing him.' But he felt the strange urge to not put it past her, especially when it came to Maya.

"Deal!" he smiled. Together, the two made their way to the subway, loading into the train heading to Maya's neighborhood. Most of the journey was spent with Lucas's voice filling the air with the real story of why he and Maya were sneaking around for the past few weeks. It all of a sudden made so much more sense to Riley why Maya let herself be in cahoots with Lucas, who she had despised at the time. As soon as the name 'Josh' came into play, it made sense.

Back at Maya's, the blonde took a long, warm shower. She was kind of on a high from what had happened the night before. The date was the furthest thing from what she had expected, but in the best way possible. She could've sworn butterflies had taken up occupancy in her stomach. It was an interesting feeling and she wasn't sure she was completely used to it yet. But nothing could make her want to let it go until she got to really see what it could be. After her shower, a little more sleep sounded pretty good, knowing she didn't sleep much earlier.

As she laid in bed, her head was swimming with multiple thoughts. Sleep didn't even feel close when a knock came at her door. Her eyes darted around her room, looking to see if maybe Lucas forgot something. Nothing caught her eye so she figured it probably wasn't him at the door. When another knock was heard, she pushed the covers from her body and walked to the door.

"Riles?" Maya said, opening the front door to see her best friend standing there. "What are you doing here?"

Riley took a long deep breathe before answering. Normally, Maya was good at reading the brunette's facial expressions, but in this moment, she couldn't make out what Riley was thinking at all. "Lucas came to talk to me," she finally answered.

Maya's eyes followed the pointed finger Riley held up to see Lucas standing down the hallway, leaning against the wall by the elevator. A tiny grin sat on his face. It appeared nervous, as though maybe he was nervous Maya would be mad at him for talking to Riley behind her back. Maya knew she hadn't decided if she was mad at him yet. "What did he say?" Maya asked, looking back at Riley.

"He told me the truth. He told me about the Josh thing and why you kept it all a secret," Riley let out, seeming to be close to tears from how disappointed in herself she was for not trusting Maya. "He told me what happened between you and him when you slept together; the truth about it."

"Riles I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth before!" Maya burst, seeming to suddenly by close to tears herself.

"No Maya I didn't give you the chance to tell me! I just kept yelling at you," Riley cried.

"Well I should've told you before that. And then maybe you would've listened to me when I slept with Lucas."

"Maybe we're both at fault," Riley smiled. Her contagious smile made one of equal size spread across Maya's lips. "I missed you Peaches."

"I missed you more Honey!" Maya laughed, wrapping her arms around her best friend.

Her eyes found their way up to meet the green ones across the hall. Her smile let him know that she wasn't mad. Actually just the opposite. She mouthed the words _'thank you'_ to the boy down the hall. He did nothing but nod his head. Maya never expected him to do something like that for her. It was so unnecessary, but so appreciated.

Riley's voice suddenly cut between the eye contact Maya and Lucas were holding. "He told me he really, really likes you," she whispered into the ear that Maya's blonde hair was covering.

"I really, really like him, too," Maya whispered back, taking another look at Lucas before he decided he was running out of time to make it to his baseball practice.

Lucas disappeared into the elevator, leaving the girls alone in the hallway to finish their moment. But he kept his promise to call Maya after his practice. It was kept short with Maya telling him that Riley was spending the night.

The girls had a lot to catch up on. Lucas. Maya's dad (which Riley felt completely horrible about not being there for). Even Farkle.

 _"_ _Call me tomorrow afternoon?" Maya asked._

 _"_ _I'll do you one better. Take you to lunch?"_

 _"_ _Absolutely Huckleberry."_

 **A/N: I mean come on, it's thunder and lightning! They were going to forgive each other pretty easily lol**

 **Only one more chapter after this and then the story is over!:( But the last chapter is super cute and is one of my favorites in the story so I'll try to post it soon! Love you babes!**

 **Be sure to review!**


	18. Rings

**A/N: LAST CHAPTER! Full author's note at the end. Enjoy this! It's a just a giant mushy fluff chapter to end things with lol**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

Chapter 18: "Rings"

-5 months later-

Maya sat in the bay window in Riley's room, her legs crossed in front of her. Riley was behind her wrapping long strands of Maya's golden hair around a curling iron. The blonde had been at her best friend's house all morning, nervously pacing the floor and having to be calmed down by Riley.

This was Lucas's mom's birthday weekend and his entire family came in from Texas to celebrate. Maya wasn't too surprised when Lucas's mom asked her to come to the dinner they were having. Those two were closer than ever. Sometimes when Lucas was at practice, and Maya didn't feel like going home, she would wait at his place and help his mom cook dinner. She was becoming known as Mrs. Friar's favorite kitchen helper. So it didn't surprise her much that the women wanted her there to help celebrate her birthday. And of course she would love to help celebrate. But that was before she knew the entire Friar clan would be there for the dinner as well. At the time, she threw a little look over to Lucas, wanting to see what kind of face he was making at the thought of her meeting his whole family. The two have been dating for almost 5 months now, but she wasn't sure about being introduced to everybody.

 _"_ _I want you there," Lucas told Maya the second they went back to his room after she was invited to the family celebration._

 _Maya's eyes widened towards him. "What?"_

 _"_ _I really want you to be there. At the dinner," he said, nervous for her reaction. He was still getting the hang of this 'relationship' thing._

 _"_ _With your whole family?" Maya asked._

 _"_ _You're important to me. And I- I want them to meet you," he replied with a strong, sure voice._

 _Honestly, Maya wasn't sure. Her and Lucas's relationship was going amazing. At times, they got on each other's last nerve, sometimes they wouldn't talk for two days because of some stupid fight. But one of them always showed up at the other's apartment with sad eyes claiming they miss the other too much to keep fighting. In the beginning, Maya was terrified that Lucas couldn't stop his playboy ways. Girls still flirted with him, like they didn't know him and Maya were together. But he never strayed from the blonde. Their relationship was something of an unexpected success. No one expected Lucas to get tied down by one girl, even Lucas, and no one thought Maya would fall for a guy like Lucas. But they worked. Somehow the bickering and nicknames worked for them._

 _But it had only been a few months. Meeting his entire family seemed a bit serious. Lucas must have noticed the unsure look in her eyes. He began to take little steps towards his girlfriend, resting his hands on her arms._

 _"_ _You don't have to if you don't want to," he told her._

 _Maya took notice of his eyes and how they looked almost disappointed. "You really want me there?" she asked. Lucas just nodded, but didn't say anything back. "I'll come," Maya answered all of a sudden._

 _The smile that grew on his face made Maya immediately choose to not to regret her decision. That dopey little dimpled grin of his always got to her._

"You nervous?" Riley asked Maya as she wrapped the last strand of hair around the curling iron.

Maya glanced up from her tangled hands and laughed. "Do you even have to ask?"

"I don't know why you're so nervous! You know his entire family is going to love you. Just like he does," Riley said, whispering the last part.

The blonde rolled her eyes. She had heard the 'love' thing from Riley so many times lately that she couldn't do anything but laugh now. "Riley I told you, it is way too early for Lucas and me to be using the word 'love,'" Maya laughed. Riley rolled her own eyes in response then continued to set bobby-pins in place to put Maya's hair in the half up half down look she had imagined.

It wasn't too much longer before Riley finished with Maya's hair. She was dressed with her makeup done. Nothing else could distract her from making her way to the Friar apartment. She got up from the bay window, hugged her best friend, asked her to wish her luck, and left out the door.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Maya fiddled with the hem of her casual red dress as she waited for the door of Lucas's apartment to open. She could hear the sound of multiple voices inside and knew the family was already there. Before any of her nerves or emotions could be processed, the door opened a little bit and Lucas slipped out through it, shutting it back behind him.

"Hey," he smiled, leaning in to kiss Maya. She happily reciprocated the kiss, even smiling into it. "I thought you could use a minute before we go in."

"Thank you. I'm just really nervous," Maya admitted. Lucas was nervous too, he just wanted everything to go well. The girl standing in front of him was more important to him than he even thought a girl could be. It was important to him to let his family get to know her.

He took in her appearance, noting how beautiful she looked. He could tell that she tried really hard to look extra good to meet his family. "Why are you so nervous?" he asked.

Maya shrugged her shoulders. "What if they don't like me?"

"Maya, that's crazy. You're amazing. Of course they'll like you," he promised. His lips pressed lightly to the top of her head to lay a kiss in her hair. Maya wouldn't say it, but it immediately calmed her down a bit. "Plus my mom has already told everyone how incredible you are, so they already have a pretty good image of you."

"Well at least they don't have high expectations or anything," Maya laughed.

"You ready?"

"One more kiss," Maya demanded. Her boyfriend happily agreed, gently pulling her into his lips. The kiss lasted a little longer than either of them meant for it to last, but when they finally pulled apart, Maya nodded her head. "Let's go meet your family, Huckleberry."

Once they opened the door, Lucas's mom came running over to wrap Maya in big hug. The familiar face was nice to start with, honestly. But once Maya looked up from the hug, she was flooded with new faces she had never seen before. Some she recognized from pictures, but most of them were strangers. Mrs. Friar went right into introducing everyone to the nervous blonde. Maya found her comfort with her hand being squeezed by Lucas's, but the whole thing was still very overwhelming. At first, that is. Once her name got tossed around the whole room, everyone was dying to know the girl who 'turned Lucas into a lovesick puppy.' Those were apparently the words Mrs. Friar threw around. Just after Pappy Joe came up to Maya to give her a big hug and whisper to her that Lucas has told him a lot about her, one of Lucas's little cousins came up to Maya and Lucas.

"Lukey!" the little girl said, running up to them.

"Hey Julianne!" Lucas yelled, picking the little girl up in his arms. He started planted big, exaggerated kisses all over the girl's face while she giggled away. "You're so big now!"

The girl, Julianne apparently, wrapped her little arms around Lucas's neck. "Yeah! I'm a big girl now," she said proudly. Her head turned to Maya, who was watching the scene in front of her with joy. She had never seen Lucas with little kids before. But it was one of the best things she had seen him do was play with this little girl. "You're pretty. Are you a princess? You have long, pretty hair like a princess," she rambled to Maya.

Maya couldn't help but laugh. The little girl was so cute. "Nope not a princess. I just have long hair," she smiled to the girl in Lucas's arms. Julianne laughed at the funny answer from Maya.

"This is my girlfriend Maya. Maya this is my little cousin Julianne," Lucas introduced.

"She's pretty. Like a princess," she leaned up to tell Lucas.

"I know right?"

Maya let out a cute little laugh at her dorky boyfriend. Julianne became very attached to Maya after that. Maya swore it was because she actually thought Maya was a real princess, but she didn't mind. She had a new little buddy to hang out with during the party. After some mingling, Maya felt very at home. Everyone was so nice and was welcoming her in with open arms. She blamed it on 'southern hospitality.' Lucas was right when he told her they already had a good image of her. Either Lucas or his mom, or both, had raved about her to each person. Mrs. Friar wasn't allowed into the kitchen since it was her birthday and no one wanted her slaving away on her own birthday. She entrusted Maya to go into the kitchen and help in there, since she couldn't herself. Maya was quite surprised when Grandma Dee actually let her help with the secret roast recipe.

Maya couldn't help but feel like she was in the kitchen cooking with her own family. They were laughing and telling jokes, the older women who were much more experienced in the kitchen were giving Maya cooking tips. She was actually kind of sad when the meal was finished and they began to lay all of the food out on the large table in the dining room. But then she sat down and looked around her. Lucas was next to her, his hand on her leg under the table, Julianne was on her other side, and the whole table was full of people who had excepted her as one of their own, even if she had only been dating Lucas for 5 months.

"I would like to say something," Mrs. Friar stood up and said. Everyone turned their attention to her. Lucas threw his arm over the back of Maya's chair and she smiled, waiting for Mrs. Friar to keep speaking. "I want to thank everyone for coming all the way from Texas to be here for my birthday. It's so sweet and I love having everyone I love in one room!" Her smiling voice turned to her son and his girlfriend. "And I want to thank Maya for being here. I know this many Friars in one room can be intimidating but it means a lot that you're here honey. So thank you. And thank you for making my Lucas so happy. I don't remember ever seeing him this truly happy. And that's the best birthday present I could have gotten. I know they've only been together a few months, but I think we'll be seeing Maya at this dinner table for a long time. But I'm just guessing that based on how Lucas looks at her when she's not looking."

"Mom!" Lucas yelped, embarrassed. Maya laughed next to him.

"Oh honey don't worry, she looks at you the same way," Mrs. Friar added. This time she received a nervous smile from Maya. Maya laughed and buried her head in her hands to conceal the sound.

Lucas ran a hand over his face. "Are you done embarrassing me now?" Lucas laughed to his mom.

"Oh shush it's my birthday. I can embarrass you as much as I want," his mom smiled. "Seriously though, thank you everyone for coming."

"Now let's eat!" Pappy Joe interrupted. The whole table giggled, silently agreeing with their mouths watering at the sight of the delicious food lining the middle of the table.

Chatter began amongst everyone as they passed food around to fill up their plates. Lucas pulled Maya's head over to him so he could press a kiss into the side of her hair. Her eyes looking up at him begged for a real kiss, so he pressed his lips to hers before they separated to give into their desire to eat the bounty of food in front of them.

Another couple of hours later, dinner was gone and desert was being passed around in the form of a strawberry shortcake. Maya had helped Mrs. Friar make that before so she knew it was her favorite desert. The blonde had just finished her cake piece and was busy talking to one of Lucas's aunts when Lucas himself came walking up to them.

"Can I borrow Maya for a minute?" he asked his aunt. She nodded her head and watched as Lucas took hold of Maya's hand.

She was led down the hall and into Lucas's bedroom. She wasn't sure what was happening, but she wouldn't put it past him to want a quickie right now. Lucas turned to her after shutting the door and Maya noticed his serious eyes. Slightly concerned, she crawled onto the bed waiting for him to join her.

"Huckleberry what's wrong?" Maya asked, hoping the nickname would calm him down a bit. It seemed to do the trick as he climbed on top of the bed and sat in front of Maya.

"Nothing's wrong. That's just it… nothing's wrong," he smiled. "I know you were really nervous to come here and meet my family, but you did it for me."

Maya smiled at the thankful gesture he was giving her. "Yeah well if they're related to you then I knew they couldn't be too bad," she smirked.

"You took a chance on me, too," he reminded. A lot of the time, Lucas felt like Maya deserved a lot more than him. He still thought about how he had hurt her before. But Maya had changed him from that guy he was before, the guy he was his whole life. Now he was better, at least he tried to be. He had changed her too, though. Maya wasn't as closed off as she used to be. Trust was building in her and not just trust in Lucas but in others. They were helping each other in ways they thought no one ever would be able to help them. One day at a time, they were helping to make each other better versions of themselves. Lucas started digging around in his pocket until he pulled out a small item that Maya couldn't quite make out in his hands. "I want you to have this."

He held the object out in front of her. Maya registered it as a ring. "What is this?" she asked.

"It's Pappy Joe's. He gave it to me when I was a kid. But I want you to have it now," he explained.

Maya shook her head, pushing his hand that held the ring away from her. "No Lucas that ring is too important to you. I couldn't take that."

"You're important to me too Maya! Please? It would mean a lot to me," Lucas begged.

"It wouldn't even fit me."

She wasn't wrong. The ring was the size of Pappy Joe's finger and even if Maya didn't have tiny little hands, the ring would still be too big. But Lucas had taken that into consideration when he decided to give her the memento. He dug in his pocket once again and pulled out a small gold chain.

"That's why I thought you could put it on this," he smiled, sliding the ring onto the chain.

Maya stared at the ring turned necklace and smiled. "Are you sure you want me to have this?" she asked. Lucas nodded, holding it out to her again. "Do I have to put it on myself?"

"No I can do that for you," Lucas smiled.

Maya shifted her body and pulled her hair out of the way so her boyfriend could clasp the necklace behind her neck. It was a moment before she turned around, he fingers delicately playing with the ring.

"Thank you for giving me the second chance," Lucas said, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Thank you for being worth the second chance," Maya said in return. Not a day had gone by when she regretted giving him that second chance.

The two leaned in for a kiss. What started out as a quiet kiss, soon turned heavy. Lucas's hands were tangled in Maya's hair and her hands cupped the face of the boy she kissed. Electricity, the same that ran through them whenever they kissed, ran through them now. Neither even noticed the bedroom door fly open. Pappy Joe stood in the doorway and quickly clear his throat when he saw the two teens on the bed. They looked up embarrassed, with awkward grins on their faces.

"Didn't mean to interrupt," Pappy Joe smirked, "But there is a little girl out here requesting the presence of a 'Princess Maya.'"

Both teens laughed, knowing it was Julianne who was looking for Maya. Maya climbed off the bed quickly. Once she stood next to Pappy Joe, she looked up at him. "Are you ok with me having this?" she asked, holding out the ring as it hung off the necklace chain.

"Of course. As long as you two are keeping each other happy, you are welcome to wear that," the man told her with a sincere smile.

"Thank you."

Maya walked down the hall and spotted Julianne sitting on one of the big chairs in the living room. She walked over to the little girl whose large grin was pointed towards Maya.

By now, Lucas had climbed off the bed. He was standing at the end of the hallway next to Pappy Joe, both of their eyes on Maya as she started to braid Julianne's hair, probably at the little girl's request. Pappy Joe looked down to see the dopey, admiring grin on Lucas's face. He imagined that to be the face Lucas's mom was talking about when she made her toast, the face he made when Maya wasn't looking. Never did Pappy Joe think he would see his grandson make that face at a girl. But there it was.

"Lucas?"

"Hm?" Lucas motioned, looking away from Maya for only a minute to turn his gaze to his grandfather.

"I really hope one day you give that girl a real ring," he said with a grin.

Lucas just laughed and looked away, turning back to Maya. "I think it's a little early for that Pappy Joe," he smirked.

But in his head, as he gazed at Maya across the room, thought about how one day, he just might give her a real ring.

 **A/N: It's over guys… honestly I really love this story. It was one of my favorite stories I've ever written! And you guys have been amazing reviewing through the whole thing! What are your thoughts on the last chapter?**

 **I'm in the middle of writing another multi-chapter lucaya story! It's loosely inspired/based on the show F.R.I.E.N.D.S and is a neighbors/ roommates AU. Would you guys read it? Or should I stop writing it? Lol I like what I've written so far and am really excited about what I have planned for it! Please tell me if that's something you would read or if everyone is kind of getting over lucaya fanfic… ps GOD I MISS LUCAYA.**

 **Thanks to everyone who read this and reviewed! Let me know if the new story is something you would read as well and I'll try to get the first chapter posted soon! Love you babes:)**


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